Master of Happiness
by Celestriad
Summary: When family turns into a dictatorship, and you have nowhere to turn, just break a few walls instead.
1. Chapter 1

p class="Normal"Welcome one and all! This is a somewhat cannon story of the HG/SS, but for the most part, it's au. A story based upon a life where Ethan was unable to begin his journey and struggles to find an accessible path in life he wishes to pursue/p  
p class="Normal"This will become an Ethan/Lance pairing, but we shall keep it innocent. Nothing ruins a story faster for me than the whole thing becoming about sex. Plots people! Plots!/p  
p class="Normal"Rating is M just to be safe, may fall under T/p  
p class="Normal"First fic, be nice/p  
p class="Normal"Flamers realise that I'm just as flaming; so toodle-loo!/p  
p class="Normal"-/p  
p class="Normal"'Breathe. In and out. And if that doesn't work, do it all again!'. My mother's words echo through my mind, but to no avail. This must be the seventh repetition, but I just can't shake the feeling that something is out of place, or rather, someone. Why am I still stuck here? When will I finally be free of this accursed job?/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I can hear the backstage crew starting to gather everyone. Breath 13. I know that I'm the main attraction on that damn runway, but surely I could just disappear and never be seen again, right? No; he'd know. He always did catch on far too quickly to my 'shenanigans'. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I startle. I realise I've been in my head too long, and consequentially lost any and all chance to escape. Damn./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As the models start disappearing out onto the runway one by one, I feel some hands making some last minute touches onto my hair, but that fades as the last person in front of me leaves for the stage. Breath 34, it will have to do. Just 30 seconds and I'll be away from the flashing lights and the judgmental designers. Fake a smile, fake the confidence, fake the entire persona, and let's get this over with./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I walk out onto the stage I can immediately tell that all eyes are on me, but why wouldn't they? I mean, if I were to be anyone else, I know I'd be ogling myself. Hell, I do it every time I'm so fortunate to pass a mirror. The hair? The face? The body? It's all right, and the outfit doesn't hurt either. Damn they were lucky to receive me as the model to wear this clothing. I reach the end of the catwalk strike a few poses and whip around to start my exit. May as well give them the benefit of seeing the rear as well; after-all, there is no bad angle./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I'm walking, someone catches my attention from the front row. My mind freezes as if I was a child caught stealing a cookie. There's no way that he'd be here! But there he was, front and centre. Every single member of the audience seems to fade away until it's just the two of us remaining in the room.I angle my head just enough to keep him in sight, but all it get's me in return is a heated look and a shake of his head. How?! How could he know that I was ready to run away from it all again? How does he seem to know my every twisted thought? I start to panic, breathing getting shorter. Mum's advice won't help now, so the best thing to do was to get out of there as quickly as I could. As I'm almost about to reach the end of the runway, I hear his voice resolutely say, 'My word is law! You will do as I say because I know what is right for you'. I don't realise how much those words effect me until I find myself falling towards the ground and-/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I flail up from my bed gasping for air. It takes a solid minute to get my breathing under control before I realise that it was just a dream. Just a really fucking elaborate dream. I feel a little prodding at the base of my hand and hear a little cry of 'vii'. Subconsciously, my hand goes to pat my dear friend's head./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I'm fine Princess, I just had a bad dream'. I know that it wont convince her, it never does. Damn eevee may as well have been an espeon for how in tune she was with me and my chaotic emotions. However, while she may know me, I also know her, and if I just so happen to pat her right under her left ear, she'll forget all about it. I chuckle as she melts right away at my touch. With a kiss to her forehead, I lay back down knowing that this time, with her in my arms, the troubled dreams will leave me in peace./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As my alarm goes off in the morning, I trudge through and take a shower, a little off my typical level from the segmented sleep from last night. While I would like to say that it was a once off, those types of nightmares were becoming more commonplace among my nights. It's like even my heart and subconcious are both telling me that I hate where I'm at in life and what is the cause for such feelings, but jokes on them! My brain has already been telling me these things for the last two years. Take that heart, you're way behind!/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I know that working as a model isn't where I wish to be in life, but my father's word is law. Ever since the harsher rulings for getting a pokemon license came into effect, he decided that it would be safer for me to live a life without much association with them. He's not even in the same region, but as a gym leader, he had enough pull to prevent me from gaining my license even when I hit the newly required minimum of 16. Four years on and I've still had no luck with convincing him that I'll be safe from harm. Damn hypocritical of the man to prevent me while he literally makes them battle random strangers for a piece of plastic every day. I understand the dangers though, especially after the news reports and broadcasts that occurred 11 years ago./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"11 years ago/p  
p class="Normal"- Breaking headline -/p  
p class="Normal"In a horror situation, 11 years old Janine Fuma, of the Fuma clan in Fushcia city has today been found dead in Viridian forest. Janine, in her passion for poison pokemon, wandered into a hive of the beedrill line, and was then assumed to have been mercilessly stabbed by the sharp stingers of at least one beedrill. She was found with several large punctures throughout her body, as well as the body of her golbat who was also found on scene. Father, Koga, and auntie, Aya, have been contacted and are distraught over the loss of their dear family. This news comes after recent studies have shown that within the Kanto-Johto region alone, there are roughly 280 deaths per year, 82% occurring in children aged 10-12, and a further 14% occurring between adolescences aged between 13-15./p  
p class="Normal"We ask that you keep the Fuma clan in your thoughts and prayers. In a further note, the Fuchsia gym will be temporarily closed for the next week. For those in the area, the league suggests heading into the Fuchsia safari zone./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"10.5 years ago/p  
p class="Normal"- Breaking headline -/p  
p class="Normal"In breaking news, after their daughter met a gruesome end only six months ago, Koga Fuma, leader of the Fuma clan and leader of the Fuchsia gym has today left his post as a gym leader to become part of the Elite 4. When asked why, he stated that such a tragedy cannot be allowed to repeat itself, and he would take the task upon himself to ensure that he pave the way for that brighter future. Will Koga's ambitions be realised? This reporter sure hopes so as it would be devastating to report yet another child mauled by a tauros, or crushed by an onix./p  
p class="Normal"His place today became solidified when he outed long standing member Lt. Surge in what was said to be an astonishing match. He now joins the other members of the Elites: Blaine, Bruno, Giovanni, and of course the long standing champion of the region, Agatha./p  
p class="Normal"It is stated that Koga has been asked several times to join the elite level of parliament, but turned it down each and every time due to first taking care of his clan's business, and then raising his young daughter. In his place, his sister, Aya Koga, has been left in charge of both the duties of the Koga family and that of the Fuschia gym./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"10 years ago/p  
p class="Normal"- Breaking headline -/p  
p class="Normal"In what has been a long time in the making, the champion of the Kanto and Johto region, Agatha, came forward with a new law that has changed the minimum age that a trainer can obtain their licences within the two regions. This is in consequence to the death of Janine Koga a year ago today. In memory of her passing, and the push of the law by elite 4 member, and father of Janine, Koga Fuma, the law has been labelled the Fuma law. It states that the minimum age that someone can gain their trainer license is now 16, and they must pass an exam detailing the dangers of some of the most dangerous pokemon in the regions such as nidoking, fearow and gyarados. In other news, the new law has been making headway over in the Hoenn region. Current champion Wallace has taken a keen eye to the topic./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Current time/p  
p class="Normal"From the moment that such a renown figure as Janine Fuma died, my dad, Norman Williams, the gym leader of Petalburg gym in Hoenn, and once upon a time, the gym leader of Goldenrod City absolutely forbade me from going for my pokemon license. He deemed the whole issue to be far too dangerous both from the statistics and from personal experience. Sure I still studied it all with a passion and time after time tried to get him to appeal his decision, but it was to no use. Furthermore, with his level of sway being a gym leader and damn near running one of the largest cities in the entire Johto region while he was still in charge, he swayed the system not to be able to let me take the test even after I became of age. Even now while he's living in Hoenn and left me alone in Goldenrod, he still holds way too much power over me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"A head hits my shin knocking me out of my daze. 'Yeah yeah, you want your breakfast. Let's go get you some food you spoiled mutt'. I'm not sure why I even had to say anything as she had already ran through the condo to the kitchen. Goddamn if she wasn't the saving grace of my life though. The only give my father had was that I was allowed to keep Princess since she was considered to be a species with minimal risk. I'm not sure how he somehow convinced the authorities that I could keep a pokemon without my license, but I'm certainly not going to argue this boon./p  
p class="Normal"In a city full of fakes and cut throat people all doing what they can to make it big and be a star, Princess was the one person who I could be myself unconditionally around and let my guard down. Honestly, she was probably more intelligent, humorous and talented as well, but I'm a little biased. I would like to see her maybe one time go to the statistics centre and watch her single handedly display to all the professionals just how inept they are at their jobs of fixing the homeless situation on the east side of the town. Thankfully, I live in one of the luxury condos on the west overlooking the ocean. I wouldn't go so far to say that I'm rich and famous, but the name Ethan Williams is pretty widely known in the region. I guess that does make me famous. And there goes the humbleness./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With my options for pokemon training out, my next option went to modelling. I was first scouted back when I was 14 for a biking shop called 'Kling-Klang Bicycles', an out of the way shop that was struggling a bit because they owned a store just a little bit too far east of the CBD to be viable. One billboard, and one free bike later, suddenly my mother was handling more offers than I would have thought possible. My mother wasn't surprised though. She always said that I got my father's face and her expressive eyes. After I had tamed my hair with age and experience, I was 'ripe for the picking' as she used to always say. It also didn't help that I grew out of the weird gangly stage my body used to be as a child, and now at the age of 20 and many years of swimming, my body is now something out of a movie. The tone has always been something I'm proud of and my god am I happy that the swimming burns so many calories that I can sustain being a model and eat whatever junk I want within reason. Just another reason the others in the industry hate me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I finish my breakfast and finish getting ready to leave the house, I turn to Princess and get her to jump up onto my shoulder. 'Let's go get you groomed shall we? I hope that the salon guy you like is there today. I should really get his number so I can make sure you only have the best'. With an excited 'vii!' she makes herself comfortable as we make our way through the door./p 


	2. Chapter 2

p class="Normal"As we head through the entrance to the complex, I can immediately feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. As I sigh in content, I can't help but think 'God I love this town'. For all it's faults, and for all its inhabitants faults, this place will always truly be home for me. Maybe after getting Princess groomed we could go seaside for some lunch. While it would be great to head into the water, Princess is the real primadonna and won't get her fur wet, nor would I leave her on her own in the area. A pretty girl such as herself wouldn't be safe around here on her own./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"On our way to the underground, I realise that Princess is fast asleep on my shoulder. I chuckle lightly as it dawns on me that I've been relegated to the duty of a manservant yet again. She truly did live up to her name, but I wouldn't have her any other way./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Walking through one of the refurbished areas to reach our destination, I can't help but ponder how the city has changed over the recent years. When the whole family had moved in 12 years ago from New Bark, Goldenrod, while still lively, was but a mere drop of water in the lake that it had now become. A boom in population growth had surged numbers from 320,000 to the 1.4 million that it has become today. The town had quickly and easily dominated the title of the largest city in all of Johto, and just recently passed into second place within the Kanto-Johto area, narrowly edging out Celadon City at 1.377 million. But alas, Goldenrod would be hard pressed to become the most populated town as Saffron City still dominated the scene by a large margin. Not that it needed to, since it's current level of population growth had left it in a precarious position./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Due to the large growth, estates were filled at a rate that was too high to keep up with. Now, while the richest lived in style and elegance, the poor were relegated to the east side to live like sardines inside a matchbox. To add even more insult to the town, it was the middle class stuck in said matchboxes leaving the poor straight up homeless. With the glitz and the glamour of the big city, many people came with big dreams, but found that dreams were the only thing they had left. Possessions, money, dignity, even friends and family. Poverty had a funny way of taking everything away from a person leaving nothing but a husk. Those that could have been scientists, engineers and doctors, stuck in the gutter without a way to realise their inner potential to aide the world./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"No matter how much the current gym leader Whitney tried, she just isn't capable of keeping up with the demands of the job. I'm not even sure my dad would have been able to if he was still here. There were rumors floating around the upper circles that the league had her under a performance review. Other rumors stated that she was going to be outright fired, but there was no concrete evidence towards either of these things. Personally, I believe she's done a wonderful job in her time, since there is no way she could do it without help. Still, no matter what I think or believe, it wont help the fact that I have nothing to do with league matters, and if she loses her job, this town will just erase her memory and move on./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Oh well, even if they do replace her, the city will still have a history of corruption, lies and deceit no matter where you turn. The rich only trying to get richer and more powerful, and the poor only trying to get richer and more powerful. The only interaction the two having being when the rich get robbed by the poor, or when the rich get too rich and inevitable stumble upon a life fueled by the chaos of drugs and lose it all. Very few rise in the city, but it's only too easy to fall and crash into oblivion./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Dissent would also be present as there were further rumors going around town that there were two gangs on the rise. The young and ambitious who were born on the wrong side of the town were now resorting to thievery and thuggery to make their way in life. It is unknown what the two gangs identify as, but there are fears that someone may be taking advantage of the town's darker side to revive the once notorious Team Rocket. Once ruled by ex-elite 4 member, and Viridian gym leader Giovanni, the group was disbanded only three years prior. Reports say that Agatha Oak and husband Samuel Oak, who was the champion of the Indigo league before his wife beat him over 40 years ago, were the ones to single handedly defeat the organisation after they invaded Saffron city and took control of Silph Co. In the fray, Giovanni and a few of his elites managed to escape through the use of many self-destructing voltorbs and geodudes, paired with some powerful psychics. Since then, none have been seen and it was thought that Giovanni had given up on his ambitions of controlling the underground black markets and all other shady operations that not even the Ace Trainers could dig up afterwards./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Before I know it, the high-rise buildings are gone and replaced with one of the more modest shopping precincts. Mum used to take me to this area pretty commonly as a child as she quickly fell in love with the park across the road. She found that the city wasn't where she felt at home, but the park allowed her a quaint little piece of nature that she could allow herself to relax in if only temporarily. I truly wasn't surprised when she told me she'd be moving to Little Root Town after dad got shifted by the league; apparently the Hoenn region needed a stronger representation of authority or some other such thing./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"But the one thing I truly appreciated about always coming to the area was that there was a hidden gem of an underground shopping centre nearby. Having a market and some quirky little shops, it quickly became one of my favorite areas, and thus why I'm heading there now. There's one little pokemon grooming shop that I often come to for Princess' sake. As we arrive to the underground, I nudge her awake and she quickly perks up at the prospect of becoming beautiful. Such a vain little creature, just like her daddy./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I exit the escalator, I hear a sudden shout of 'Ethan?!' from god knows where. I look around somewhat dazed, still trying to shuffle forward so I'm not getting in anyone's way, before someone glomps me from behind. I tense not really knowing what's going on, until I recognise that familiar blue hair and scent./p  
p class="Normal"'Lyra? Is that really you?' I feel she's let me go and only now realise that Princess had already abandoned ship when he knew the danger was coming./p  
p class="Normal"'It really, really is! Lyra, in the flesh!' As she strikes a pose to emphasize her own point, I'm reminded once again of just why she could be painful to deal with./p  
p class="Normal"'What are you doing in Goldenrod? I thought you were still living in New Bark with your family?' She pouts suddenly realising that her grand entrance might as well have just hit a ghost pokemon, but decides to move on with the conversation. Who said Princess was the only one capable of figuring people out?/p  
p class="Normal"'I decided to take some time away from that stuffy little lab and spend some time with my grandparents at the daycare! And it'd be such a shame if I didn't take advantage of being so near to Goldenrod and get my dear little Bob a haircut!' Out of the corner of my eye, I see yet another blue object and realise that's who Princess had ditched me for. Princess and Bob the marill had become fast friends when they met 7 years ago./p  
p class="Normal"'I still can't believe you named your female marill 'Bob'. It's such a butch name for a jolly little female. You should have called me up, I would have made time to come with you instead of meeting you randomly'. I was actually vaguely hurt that she didn't, but I think I had given her enough information to figure that out. Shit. Princess is giving me that eye again, so I was being a bit too vague. Damn fox./p  
p class="Normal"'I would have, but I know that you're usually busy, so I decided that it would be easier to come alone than try in vain. Sorry! My bad in the end. And you know I named her after the action, and not the man'. She actually seems a bit bashful, so I might let her off this once. Not to mention that she was kind of right, I do work quite a lot, but it was a Saturday and she should know I get those off./p  
p class="Normal"'I guess I might forgive you, but it just means that you're going to have to spare Bob for some photo shoots. Oh! And would you look at that, we're already in the underground, so we don't even need to go anywhere!'/p  
p class="Normal"'That sounds like a lot of fun! I'm guessing by the way Princess is with you that you're here to get her hair cut too? Maybe we could go get the photoshoot done after that!'/p  
p class="Normal"'Sounds like a plan.' You would think I'd feel just a little bit of shame at how Bob had just caught onto the conversation, and how her eyes were widening to almost comic proportions. But no, the cackling internally continues on at the thought that I can not only give Princess a photoshoot, but get even for Lyra's lack of forethought at the same time./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"When we arrive at the salon, I'm thanking my lucky stars that the younger salon owner is in. While the salon was fairly successful and renown among the contest scene, being in such an out of the way spot should have had a bit more of an impact on their sales. Fortunately, they had been thriving for the five years they had been open, mainly thanks to the work of the two owners. I had shown Lyra this place several years ago, and she was instantly in love with it just like I was. She thankfully wasn't fussed with who groomed Bob, and I certainly wasn't in a position to stop Princess from getting the younger brother. As we entered into the room, the older brother gave us, or rather, me a welcome./p  
p class="Normal"'Ah, Ethan! In for Princess' regular clean-up?' At the prospect of someone calling her dirty, she gave him what could only be described as a murderous look. Knowing it without even seeing it, I decided to correct him./p  
p class="Normal"'She's always stunning, she just needs a bit of a trim to make sure she maintains her beauty'. More content with that description, she stopped paying attention to the lowly brother and went over to nudge the leg of the younger brother, already ensuring them that he was who she wanted. Such a diva. With the younger brother's attention now on the little fox by his feet, he let's a smile fall on his face/p  
p class="Normal"'Ah, little Princess! You look more radiant each time I see you. Now let's go make sure everyone knows just why you're the Princess and they're lowly servants'. With that, she allows herself to be picked up and transported like the most delicate of jewels, head held high and obviously loving every second of the treatment. Shaking my head, but not surprised in the least, I decide to just sit in one of the waiting chairs and get comfortable/p  
p class="Normal"'Are you not going to with them?' Lyra seems particularly confused about my choice of actions as one of the other attendants works with Bob right in front of her./p  
p class="Normal"'Nah, if there's one place I feel comfortable letting her roam around on her own, it's this place. She probably loves him more than me at times. Actually, that is dangerous. She's got him wrapped around her little finger, she's going to want treats from him'. With that I get up and follow where they had headed through to. Right away, I can see that I was absolutely right and he was reaching for the treats on his station. 'Princess, you know better than that. Conning innocent people into giving you food. Your evil knows no bounds young lady'. The innocent 'eev?' did nothing to convince me that she truly wasn't pulling a fast one on an unsuspecting sucker. I hear the owner chuckle and say that he just can never say no to that face./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I continue to make small talk with him, I ponder over the situation with Lyra. It truly was a shock to see her out of the blue like that, but a positive one at that. We were the same age and went to primary school back in New Bark Town together until my family moved out here. She was the daughter of the regional professor, and I was the son of, at the time, one of the ace trainers, so with our fathers often interacting after school, we quickly learnt to be friends. It also helped that I wasn't one of those kids that enjoyed mud and worms. I think I actually hated getting dirty more than she did so we got along without much assistance after formally being introduced to each other. After we moved, I didn't see her for a few years, but she spent one summer when she was 14 up with her grandparents as her parents needed to go overseas for a conference. Thankfully, it turned out that her grandparents operated a pokemon daycare on the outskirts of town, so she was able to spend quite a lot of time with me. From there, she would spend more time staying at the daycare as it meant that not only could she see me, but have more access to the fashion and ocean that Goldenrod provides. I'm sure that if she wasn't inheriting the family business, she would have moved out here at first chance./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As the haircut finishes up, I let Princess climb back up onto my shoulder knowing that the ground would now 'pose a threat' to her beauty. After paying and picking up both Lyra and Bob, we finish the five minute walk over to 'Lock On Photography'. Princess always enjoyed being photographed way more than I did, but I was also much happier to direct the shot and make her as glamorous as possible. With resigned eyes, Bob watched as both Lyra and I picked out a large assortment of outfits and accessories for the both of them. Shoes, glasses, crowns, capes, no rock was left unturned. After a solid 90 minute session, Bob could finally relax and Princess felt like she had been properly fawned over for one day. We had the pictures printed and finally left./p  
p class="Normal"'Bob, I can't believe how cute you are dressed as a pirate! You truly are the king of the seas with that eye-patch and foil'. I chuckle out loud, and at Lyra's confused look, I laugh even harder. 'What? What's so funny?' I point towards Bob, where she had been getting progressively more angry. Finally, she couldn't stand Lyra's ignorance at the situation any further and sent a water gun in her face and promptly walked off. 'I don't understand, what just happened?'/p  
p class="Normal"Finally containing my laughter just enough, I responded, 'You just called your female marill a king. She's already sensitive about being named a guys name'. Realising her mistake, she ran after Bob to make up for her mistake./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"-/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Not where I initially thought this was going, and didn't cover as much as I thought. Oh well, more character introductions coming up/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Someone beta this; as a dancer I loathe anything I create, so if I read this I'm going to hate it/p 


	3. Chapter 3

p class="Normal"With Bob in her arms, still annoyed but tolerating Lyra's presence, we set off to the beach-side cafes for lunch. Now during the peak time on a Saturday, trying to traverse through the area in peace was truly a trying activity. Over the course of the journey, Lyra was getting more and more put out. Why? Because they never stop./p  
p class="Normal"'Oh my God! It's Ethan Williams!'/p  
p class="Normal"'He's so dreamy!'/p  
p class="Normal"'This is my chance to get in with him'/p  
p class="Normal"'Can I get your autograph?'/p  
p class="Normal"'Can I get your number?'/p  
p class="Normal"'Can I get your heart?'/p  
p class="Normal"'Do I need to take out that blue haired girl?'/p  
p class="Normal"'She's definitely competition'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"An exasperating 30 minutes later and we finally made our way over to the Peaking Peeko, a popular little cafe overlooking the ocean in one of the busier sections of the coast. It was apparently funded by a man named Mr Briney from Hoenn, but owned by a dear friend of his. We're guided to one of the more secluded booths for privacy's sake and take our seats, a table for four so that Princess and Bob could also sit with us without being shifted onto the ground. As we settle in, I know exactly what's about to come out of Lyra's mouth, but wait for her to say it anyway./p  
p class="Normal"'How do you deal with it? The stalkerish fans would drive me insane! That was only like 15 minutes of attention and I was ready for Bob to blast them all away!' Yeah, it went something like that in my head./p  
p class="Normal"'I have no choice, I haven't for the last six years of my life. I'd like to say that I've adjusted to it, but we both know I can't stand being the centre of attention. And we also know that Princess would only attack them if they came close to jostling her,' a nod of agreement, 'but other than that, I just don't have access to any pokemon, compliments of you know who'. Lyra gives me the look to signify that she knows what I mean and feels sympathy for me, but I know she would never understand my struggle./p  
p class="Normal"'He still wont let it go after all this time, huh? You were only like seven at the time, you couldn't have known what you were getting into at the time. You know I've tried to convince dad to lift the ban off you, but even as a regional professor, his power doesn't compare to a gym leader's. If it weren't for the fact that it was Koga's daughter that died, I'm sure he wouldn't have this much power over you'. It was true though, since it was a gym leader's daughter that died all those years ago, and it was that same gym leader who pushed the legislation through, the gym leaders were given power to prevent their children from pursuing careers as trainers, no matter if that was for breeding, battling or researching. Most families still let their children leave the house, but my dad just won't give it up since that incident./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Back when I was seven, I wandered away from the house eager for a bit of adventure. I was always so bored in New Bark since it was too laid back for my taste. When I was indecisive over what to do, that's when I saw it: a skiploom. I'd never seen one in person, so I treated it like a sign that I should follow the little flower floating in the breeze. After an hour of trailing it, it finally decided to land. Looking back, I caught it on such a bad day as there was barely a breeze in the sky; not really the best time to chase a weed. As I approached the spot where it had landed, I could hear multiple cries of 'hop hop', and new that I had truly struck gold. The skiploom had nested! I inch up and as I go to peer in, I see a pair of beady red eyes looking dangerously into mine, and before I can say anything, a cloud of yellow dust hit my face dead on. From there, I really started to panic, my body started to go completely rigid and it felt like only 10% of my lungs were functioning. Thankfully I had only been hit with a stun spore, and not a poison powder. Small blessings really./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I was stuck that way for hours, never being fully able to breathe, panicking from not being able to breathe, and not being able to breathe further due to the panic. The sun had just started to go down when something that really chilled my blood happened. 'Aria'. The Ariados had come up looking for a baby hoppip to feast on, but found a human that was even easier to capture. While it knew I wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't going to risk a free meal and spat out a globule of thick white material that covered my body. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream, I couldn't get away from the fangs that were edging closer step by step. Just when I thought all was lost, suddenly a shape came swooping out of seemingly thin air, grabbed the ariados with it's talons and flew off./p  
p class="Normal"'Ethan! Thank god your safe! You don't know how anxious I've been since I noticed you missing'. My dad saved me that day, and I learnt later on that it was his noctowl that grabbed the ariados and made a quick snack of it, just like it was about to do to me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Ever since that moment, dad has struggled to let me go on my own, and would never leave me around dangerous pokemon, wild or not. The death of Janine hammered this fear of his in double as hard since I almost died to the regions most basic of bug/poison pokemon. We both know if he had of been two minutes later, I would have died that night, but no-one would have found my body unlike Janine's was. I imagine though that it would have been some relief if no body was found though than seeing the mangled corpse that was left of her body. I'd seen the images in later years, and they were utterly terrifying. To think bug pokemon, the supposedly weakest type would cause so much havoc./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I understand where he's coming from, I truly do, but I feel like I'm stuck somewhere I truly don't want to be, and it's infuriating to be stuck in this cage with everyone looking in while he's run off with the key'. It's nothing she hasn't heard before. She knows my passion lies with pokemon, but I can't do anything besides read the books. I'm sure if he knew about that, he'd probably burn the library down just so I'm not tempted to head out and study it in person. But at this stage, I know I could probably rival his knowledge on anything but normal, and maybe flying types. He was truly a master in those./p  
p class="Normal"'You still aren't happy in your modeling, are you?' She was always quick on the uptake/p  
p class="Normal"'No, I might be vain, but I hate the constant ogling and attention. I'd rather be left alone in the park with a good book'. Wow, I had truly become my mother./p  
p class="Normal"'Wow, you really have become your mother, haven't you?' Damn./p  
p class="Normal"'I mean maybe just a touch. Stop snickering Princess'. The mood grew quiet and contemplative until the food came and we ate our fair share. As it reached it's end, Lyra had that look where she was struggling to make her choice with saying something. This time, I knew she wasn't going to go through with it, so I needed to intervene now./p  
p class="Normal"'Whatever you wish to say, you can. Nothing will hurt me Lyra, it's fine'. I heard her exhale before she decided to get it over with./p  
p class="Normal"'You truly do know me too well Ethan, it's scary. I really need to find someone like you to date. It's not that this suggestion was going to hurt you, but more the fact that I'm not sure I could live up to the task and get your hopes up for nothing. I might be able to see if my grandparents wouldn't mind having an extra pair of hands at the day care'. My eyes widen in shock at the proclamation. I truly wasn't expecting something like that. I know you'd be amazing with raising the pokemon with grandpa, and I honestly think you'd be even better with the baby pokemon grandma looks after.'/p  
p class="Normal"'What makes you think that? I don't think I'd be able to handle children very well at all'. I truly didn't. I mean, I'm way too self-centered to look after a child, let alone multiple fragile baby pokemon./p  
p class="Normal"'You can't see it? It only takes one look at Princess, heck, listen to the name you have for her. Everyone knows you care the world for her and treat her like she hung the stars in the sky for you. I'm honestly shocked she hasn't evolved from the bond you two share even if she has next to no battle experience'. Was it really true? I look over at Princess and she stares right back and nods. 'See, even she sees it. You're the only one oblivious to it'./p  
p class="Normal"'Wow. Maybe I have been blind to just how pampered I treat her,' an indignant 'vii' was shouted, 'but I should have seen it earlier. And I keep on saying if only to myself that she has the intelligence of an espeon, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was an espeon in disguise. I'm not saying I'd be great with the babies, but if your parents would welcome me, even if unofficially, I'd be extremely in your debt Lyra. Even if it doesn't go through, thank you'. I truly meant those words too. The life that I have isn't what I wish for. The fame and fortune? I would trade it in for a heartbeat if only to be free from this cage I've been stuck in./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"We decide to finally get a move on from the cafe and wander the boulevard. We decided that to try to avoid the crowds a bit, this time we were going to allow Princess to be my hat. Hopefully without my hair, I'm a lot less noticeable. Thankfully, the presence of me owning an eevee is practically unknown even after all this time. I don't travel much with her aside from when she is getting groomed and when we go to the nearby park to play. Surpisingly enough, the adorable eevee and the fact that both Lyra and I are young and in shape were the reasons why people looked at us. I'll take being mistaken as a random hot guy over being myself anyday; it's a lot less daunting./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As we're moving along, we suddenly see a large crowd. Wondering what could be going along, and praying it wasn't just another Mr. Mime, we scuttled towards the crowd. Instead of a humanoid figure, there stood an imposing 7 foot draconic fire breathing lizard. And what a relief that was. Mr Mimes had a tendency to creep me out more than any chaotic experience with spiders could do. But I digress, huge arse fire breathing dragon lizard? That's still a little intimidating. I'm not quite sure if anything could be just as intimidating as that./p  
p class="Normal"'Anyone is free to face him, but be aware that your pokemon will be stuck being transported to the pokemon centre in tinders'. A 6'2 man appears from behind that monstrosity of a lizard and I take my words back. The only thing more intimidating is the man that controls the beast. The man who looks like he's been wrestling gyarados' for the last eight years. The man who has a strange representation to the Elite 4 member, Lance./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I'm pretty sure Lyra must have reached the same conclusion if the hearts in her eyes are any indication. She's made it no secret that she's idolized the man ever since he came aboard the Elite 4 several years ago. Only four years older than us, it was said that he wouldn't be affected by the minimum age of 16 to get his license as he had already successfully reached the top 4 of the Indigo league before the law was introduced. Hailed as a prodigy by most, a god by few, and talentless by the jealous, Lance had worked his way up to become the youngest Elite 4 member at the age of 21, breaking the previous record of 27 almost six decades prior. His achievements are nothing to sneeze at, and his army of dragons even less so. To add even more fuel to the flame, he is the current heir to the prestigious Wataru clan and whose cousin was deemed one of the most powerful gym leaders in all of Kanto and Johto. How do I know all this? Because of the stalker beside me looking ready to faint./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I'll take you on! I'll show everyone here what a fraud you truly are'. It seems that someone was actually ballsy enough to challenge Lance and his overpowered fire-breathing lizard. What a fool. 'Electabuzz, go!' As he finished his over dramatic exclamation the challenger sent out a hairy bi-pedal rodent? Oh, I'm not quite sure what it was. I wish that there had been an over the top yell of it's name so I could work this out. 'This is my electabuzz, and his electric attacks will make short work of your charizard!' Surprisingly enough, both Lance and I both rolled our eyes at that, even if for different reasons. I'm going to assume that my sarcastic monologuing caused me to roll mine just a bit harder though./p  
p class="Normal"'It's your loss, and I already described the consequences of such a loss. But alas, another uppity and cocky rich boy is about to lose his phone charger'. Wow. While it was true, that was kind of a dick thing to say. The audience all began laughing both at the comments and futility of the challenger as we all made room around the two of them. Lyra and I starting taking bets over how long it would take for Lance to destroy him. I said six seconds, but Lyra really does see the best in him and said four. When the space became large enough, Lance continued on, 'Is there anybody around that can officiate the match?' I suddenly give Lyra a sharp shove forward. Let's see how hard she fan-girls while attempting to talk to him. As he walks over to us he asks, 'you're qualified? And what is your name?' I can tell by the rigidity in her body that she is like a dear in the headlights, but at a raised brow from Lance she finally speaks./p  
p class="Normal"'Yes sir. I'm Lyra Elm, daughter of Professor Elm of New Bark Town'. She stammers out. Shaky, but at least she stopped choking completely. She's going to kill me after this./p  
p class="Normal"'Hmm, I believe I might have heard about you when I first visited his lab. You'll do.' With that, he left back for his side where his charizard was lazily cleaning his nails. Lyra, after a quick glare at me for pulling such a stunt and receiving nothing but a sly smirk back, walked to the middle./p  
p class="Normal"'This match will be a one on one match with no substitutions. The match will end when the pokemon on either side is unable to continue. Begin!' And with that, she hightailed it away from the two pokemon. As soon as the word begin had come out of her mouth, charizard threw a half-hearted flamethrower without a command./p  
p class="Normal"'Electabuzz protect!' A green barrier just barely erecting in time to save it from being burnt alive. 'Cheap tricks! Not even waiting for the match to properly start before throwing an attack? You really are nothing but a filthy cheat!' It honestly got nothing but a single raised eyebrow from both pokemon and owner. 'Now, electabuzz, thunderbolt!' As an arch of lightning was sent towards the lizard, it simply beat its wings once and took off into the air. It really didn't seem like it was going to need a single command from Lance to dominate its opponent with absolute clarity. As the lightning stopped being produced, the charizard simply flew overhead and sent another flamethrower at it. 'Protect again! Such a simple tactic wont work on me'. The fans cheered along, but I could see exactly what tactic the charizard had changed this time. The bloody thing could breathe out fire almost second nature, while protect is a short lived draining attack. While it would have been able to keep it up a long time, it must have gotten impatient, as it suddenly amped up the power of its attack and the protection surrounding the electabuzz quickly crumbled as a result blasting the poor thing with the wrath of a vaguely annoyed overgrown fire lizard. It was clear that this was the end, but oh, it was truly just the start./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Before I truly new what was going on, I heard Lyra's voice scream out, terror overtaking her voice 'Ethan! Get down!' It was at that moment that I realised that some of the flames had become too powerful and had funneled across the ground, coming straight at me. I drop as fast as humanly possible, but I hear a sound that not only sinks my heart, but shatters it completely, 'eeeev!' She was on top of my head this entire time./p  
p class="Normal"'Princess! No! Are you okay?' I cradle her in my arms. There's a lump in my throat as I realise that I can smell burnt fur, one side of her now singed. I can feel Lyra and Bob next to me, with Bob lightly spraying her with water to reduce the damage. I can feel that eyes are on me now that they can recognise me, but none of it matters. All I can feel is the dread wracking my body as the most precious thing in the world is hurting right before my very eyes. I would say that nothing could make this worse, but I was so wrong./p  
p class="Normal"'Hmph, if it can't even withstand even that small of charizard's flames, it truly must have been a weak pokemon'. I saw red. Red like the ambulance. Red like the stop sign. Red like the warning color of dangerous pokemon. I feel Lyra's hand on mine, but I knock it away. Her pleas going unheard as I stand and stalk my way over to the insensitive dick who hurt not only what was precious to me, but through dirt in my face afterwards. I've never thrown a punch before, but goddamn the pain in my fist was worthwhile just this once./p  
p class="Normal"'How dare you?' I whisper, voice barely able to be heard by the surrounding crowd, eyes turned down. My body is shaking from the unadulterated rage, breath coming out in ragged gasps. I look up and straight into his eyes. 'How DARE you hurt an innocent pokemon and then have the nerve to tear it down?'/p  
p class="Normal"He seems almost unfazed by the entire ordeal. 'I'm sorry kid, but an accident isn't going to phase me, especially when the attack was so weak. It really shows that you have no talent as a trainer, and is just another rich, pretty boy with a rare pokemon with no use for it.' I can hear Lyra gasp in the background/p  
p class="Normal"'I'm not a trainer!' I scream, but I quickly feel the adrenaline leaving my body. I can feel the tears coming into my eyes. 'She's my best friend, she's never been in a battle before, and now she's hurt. I can't...' I feel Lyra grab me and take me away from the situation. 'I'm so sorry Princess.'/p 


	4. Chapter 4

p class="Normal"A/N- Ok, so I know I had a lot of ideas when I began this story, but I didn't realise how slow it'd turn out to be. It's also going in so many different directions, and there are some things I'm not yet sure how I'm going to incorporate, especially Silver- because he is meant to play a large part in this. I thought at max 20K words, but we've already closing in on 15K and the plot is only barely getting scratched. I've never in my life written anywhere near as much as this; never in my life have I even written as much as this chapter alone!/p  
p class="Normal"Please send help/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"-/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After the devastating series of events on the foreshore, we somehow managed to make our way to the pokemon centre. I'll forever be thankful to Lyra for guiding me there, for not blaming me for my actions, and letting me have a shoulder to cry on. She, unlike Lance, knew that Princess wasn't a battler in any regard, and that made her extremely fragile by comparison to the average pokemon. Not to mention that she was also a pre-evolution pokemon./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I hesitantly gave her to Nurse Joy and Lyra saved my arse once again by explaining the situation. My head was just in an absolute state of turmoil and I couldn't concentrate on anything going on around me. Thankfully, Princess had been unconscious sine the accident. It's a small grace that she didn't have to stay awake while she was suffering./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Being led over to the waiting room and finding a hot chocolate in my hand. I feel Lyra's hand on my shoulder and know she's finally finished with giving me the silence I needed. 'I know this is a hard time for you, but Nurse Joy told me that the original owner of a pokemon needs to be informed when one of their pokemon is treated. Unfortunately, even though she lives with you and is virtually a daughter to you, she is still registered under your dad, and he is going to find out eventually. You're going to need to ring him sometime shortly and tell him about this mess'. My heart skips two beats. Was she right? Did they really do such a thing? I look into her eyes with terror in my eyes, which only gets me a solemn nod./p  
p class="Normal"'Lyra, I really don't think I can. This day has been too emotional for me to handle my dad'. And it was true, after surviving a nightmare riddled dream and the accident, I was running off fumes. To make things worse, it was only 4pm; this day was nowhere near being over./p  
p class="Normal"'I know Ethan, maybe you should get a bit of sleep. When you wake up, I'll be here to help with your dad, and Princess will be closer to being recovered. A burn recovery should only take about an hour, and she'll be as good as new'. I know she was only trying to be positive and perky to lift my spirits, but it only got me as far as agreeing to sleep. I know a normal person would be too anxious to sleep, but I had my anxiety and worry on turbo since the accident happened, and now had run out of gas completely. I sigh and give her a jerky nod and place my mug on the table in front of us before laying my head onto her shoulder and finally finding the bliss of unconsciousness./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I wake up to Lyra's shaking. 'Ethan, Princess' procedure is over, we can go see her now'. That wakes me right up. Without a second though, my body stands and moves on autopilot towards the visiting rooms, until I realise I have no idea where I'm going. Sheepishly, I turn back to Lyra and say/p  
p class="Normal"'Yeah, I don't actually know where I'm going; I got a bit ahead of myself here. Could you please lead the way for me?' With a smirk on her face as my mistake finally dawns on me, she passes me and leads me to the room she was told Princess was in. I would have found it eventually. As I walk into the room, I see that Princess is sleeping peacefully now on a mound of pillows. I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that she's no longer in pain, but I can see where her fur is now uneven and still lightly charred. She won't like that, but at least it will be easy to fix with another trip to the salon. Shame that her fur was ruined the day it was cut. At least she has pictures to show how beautiful she spent the day, not that she's anything but even now./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I told you she'd be fine. You've never had to take her here after a battle, but you should know that the abilities of Nurse Joy and their partnered Chanseys are among the same level as miracle workers'. And it was true. These women pulled through time after time in some of the most disheartening situations any trainer finds themselves in./p  
p class="Normal"'It's not that I doubted you or their abilities, but I've never been stuck in a situation where I had no control of her well-being, and it scared me like nothing else has. Even as a kid with the ariados situation, by the end, I knew that I wasn't getting out, and resigned myself to that fate. But this? I could only watch and wait as she suffered. I don't want to be here again'./p  
p class="Normal"I hear her sigh and wait for the logic to inevitably come. 'You know, the only way she can avoid such a fate again is if you train her up'. I go to yell at the idea, but halts me with a raised hand. 'I know that you aren't formally allowed to, and I know that Princess doesn't like getting her fur dirty and matted, but you can still teach her how to use her powers and get some strength into her. No one will know if you never battle with her, and she can only wind up being more protected in the process./p  
p class="Normal"You can't stop the world from hurting her Ethan, just like you can't stop it from hurting you. I'd also feel a lot better if she had the power to help protect you. If today has shown me anything, it's that people are constantly coming for you and sooner or later, you're going to find one that means to hurt you'. It's hard to hear, but I can see where she's coming from. There has been a couple instances where fans had gotten too hands-y and ripped away clothing, pulled out hair and left bruises. Fans could be lethal, and they aren't even the ones meaning to do damage./p  
p class="Normal"'I know you're right Lyra, but I've also never done it before. I know all the theory, but without experience, I'm virtually in the dark of where to start'./p  
p class="Normal"'That might be so, but you aren't your father's son for nothing, even if he doesn't know it.' Oh no. Here it comes. 'And speaking of which, it's time that we go and tell a grand story to your father and pray that he doesn't send his team on a manhunt for Lance'. Not that that idea didn't appeal to me right now. But in the end, I had two choices. Firstly, I could completely and utterly send Lance to the sharks, which he utterly deserved, but then papa bear throws the cover over that cage I'm locked in making sure no one can access it. Secondly, I down play it and act all bubbly to prevent any fuss coming back to me. Decisions, decisions. Pettiness or preservation?/p  
p class="Normal"'Maybe you can help me on what angle I tell this story. Do I want him to get revenge for me, or play it safe for us all?' She gave me that look saying that I may as well have asked if she wanted another round at dessert/p  
p class="Normal"'You know you should play it safe, revenge isn't as sweet if you don't enact it yourself'. Wow, okay. That really should have been obvious./p  
p class="Normal"'When did you suddenly enforce the beat down of your stalk material?' I ask her genuinely curious how her tune could change so hard in just a couple hours./p  
p class="Normal"'Don't you worry. I still think he's hot, and I'll kill anyone who gets in my way of him, but the way he treated that situation was with a level of arrogance that I haven't seen before. It seems that his personality isn't at the same level as his talent'./p  
p class="Normal"'And you still want him?' She was talking in a bit of circle here/p  
p class="Normal"'Just to sleep with now, someone else can deal with his personality long term'. Ah, that makes a lot more sense. 'But enough about that, if you don't call your dad now, I'll go ahead and do it'./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Grumbling, but knowing it was always inevitable, I pull out my pokegear and call my mother. Loop holes after all, she can tell dad about it. It rings thrice before a middle aged man shows up on my screen. That's certainly not my mum. In fact, I would say by the dark hair and the familiar bone structure to myself that it was actually my doom staring into the picture./p  
p class="Normal"'I was wondering when you were going to ring, although I would have expected it an hour ago when I got the notification from the centre'. Shit, he was playing three steps ahead of me in this game. 'Imagine my first thought when I get told that the eevee I got you to keep you company, and who should never battle was admitted to the pokemon centre with burns over half her body. Imagine my thoughts when my son, who isn't qualified to own the pokemon, or battle the pokemon isn't the one to admit the pokemon, but rather his childhood friend. Put those together with the time frame of not hearing anything from you and I'll give you the result. You were either illegally battling another trainer with a pokemon that wasn't even yours, or once again, you found yourself in a dangerous position because you decided to let curiosity get the better of you, and then got hurt or died in the process! Now tell me dear son; which reason am I locking you in your apartment for eternity for?'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Shit. This was not going well, I risk a look at Lyra in panic, and thankfully she steps in. 'Hi Norman, it's Lyra here. Ethan's kind of been through it today, so do you mind if I explain what happened?' A jerky nod urges her to get on with it. 'He and Princess were just in an unfortunate accident. We were watching a match between two trainers, one of which was a fire type, and their flamethrower hit the ground with too much force, sending a few flames towards where Ethan was standing. He managed to duck just in time to avoid the fire, but Princess, who was on his head, still bore the brunt of the flames. Princess, not being a trained pokemon couldn't withstand the backlash. It was a case of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time, but she's made a full recovery and everyone is fine now'. Super vague, but an excellent way of circumventing my dad./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"His sigh can be heard through the screen. 'If I hear that anything different happened, I'm coming and wrapping you in cottonee. You're sure you're all right?'/p  
p class="Normal"Speaking for the first time in the conversation about me, I reply, 'Yes dad. I'm just a bit shaken and exhausted from the stress'. This time, not a lie or a misdirection. Except for my hand, I really should get someone to handle that./p  
p class="Normal"'Good. I'll call you tomorrow to check up on the lot of you'. His features soften down just slightly, 'please look after yourself, I couldn't take it if you were harmed'. With that, we sent our final farewells and closed the call/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'That actually didn't go as bad as I thought it would', Lyra responded after a second./p  
p class="Normal"'You actually did an amazing job with that. Really, you turned off his papa bear mode without much effort at all. I just hope nothing about this comes back to bite me in the arse'. Truly. Could the gods let up on me just a little? I'm not sure I could take much more./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"We decided that she should spend the rest of the day at mine, and let her grandparents know she wouldn't be home. With a sleepy Princess in my arms, and knowledge that there was a friend nearby, I actually managed to sleep that night./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"-The next day -/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"- Breaking Headline -/p  
p class="Normal"In breaking news, a video recorded yesterday circulated featuring a match between Elite 4 member Lance, and a challenger in seaside Goldenrod. The match was officiated by Lyra Elm, daughter of Professor Elm of New Bark Town, who happened to be in the audience. The match ended as expected with Lance's charizard beating the challenger's electabuzz in a one on one match./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The real drama happened at the conclusion of the battle, where one of charizard's flames fanned out towards one of the audience members. This didn't happen to be a regular audience member, but who Lyra Elm had been accompanying. It turns out that she was with none other than Ethan Williams himself. Ethan managed to duck the flame, but had an eevee perched on his head and was faced with the flames. The video shows a distraught Ethan cradling his eevee before Lance is heard insulting the pokemon. After the altercation turned physical with Ethan actually throwing a punch at Lance's face, it was revealed that Ethan didn't have a license, and that his eevee had never seen battle before breaking down. With that, Lyra grabbed Ethan and his eevee and got them out of the fray./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Viewers, the questions remain:/p  
p class="Normal"Should Ethan be charged with physical assault?/p  
p class="Normal"Should Lance face repercussions for the damage that his attack caused to an audience member, or for his attitude?/p  
p class="Normal"Is Ethan harboring an illegal pokemon if he doesn't have his licence?/p  
p class="Normal"Why doesn't Ethan hold a license?/p  
p class="Normal"Should there be a firm set of rules for Elite 4 challenges to protect the viewers from their monstrous power?/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"-/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Indigo Plateau/p  
p class="Normal"Lance's POV/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I can't believe I'm already back here. My vacation cut from two weeks to four days hardly seems fair to me, but when the old hag calls, I come running. No way would I risk the wrath of her and those thrice damned ghosts; even facing them while they weren't pissed got my arse handed to me. Oh well, she could fall from a heart attack and die at any minute, and I'll be in charge after that./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I'm really not sure why her and Koga are still here. Agatha's been the champion for half a century, and Koga only signed up to start that infuriating law. I can't believe that he wanted to take away my license just because of my age. I understand that his daughter was incompetent, but some clans raised their heirs better. A live example right before their eyes, but apparently that means fuck all when daddies girl gets impaled a couple times by a pokemon she's meant to specialise in. I roll my eyes at the very thought. Surely she new not to head into a nest of a vicious pokemon in their main habitat. If I had of come across a nesting Salamence, I wouldn't have let myself come within a kilometer of it./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'tiiini!' Looked like dratini was awake. My baby boy was wrapped like a scarf around my neck since he liked the warmth. Unless I'm around large crowds, like in Goldenrod, he'll always stay out with me. As much as I wish I could always keep him with me, the little fella had no control over his powers, and sometimes became overzealous with practicing at any given time. I truly didn't trust him not to hurt a random passerby with a stray dragon rage./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"It was kind of like that kid from yesterday with his eevee, but in reverse. Clearly he didn't trust strangers around his eevee, but because he thought they'd hurt her, instead of my dratini hurting them. I noticed both he and his friend right from when they entered the circle. Honestly, by the way they both had their pokemon out, I was expecting one of them to be the challenger. Neither would have put up any challenge with their unevolved pokemon, but it still would have been more enjoyable than the arrogant dick that I got. Of particular note though, I could tell that the boy was angling and positioning himself in a way that allowed himself to be aware of as many people around him as possible. By the defensiveness I witnessed later, that's where the assumption of his over-protectiveness comes from./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"When the girl (Leer was it?) was introduced as someone capable of officiating, I was honestly quite shocked. For someone that came across as a ditsy stalker fan girl, she proved herself out of the ditsy title with the knowledge of how to call a battle, and the fact that her father was Johto's regional professor. I'm fairly sure when I started my journey all those years ago that I saw a little blue headed girl with a brown haired boy playing with the starter Chikorita. Now that I think about it, there's a chance that the brown haired boy might have been the one from yesterday too./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After seeing his raw emotion and learning that his eevee had never battled, I do think that my comments may have been a bit harsh, but nothing shocked me more than when he hit me. Me? Get punched by a random for an accident with a somewhat inflammatory comment? Ok, maybe I might have deserved it, but it's not like it hurt anyway. For someone so in shape, it was obvious that the guy didn't have a violent bone in his body, so even when he snapped, he wasn't capable mentally of doing that much./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"But enough about them, let's see why I was called away from the beach so abruptly. As Agatha walks in with Koga, her piercing burgundy eyes look straight into mine. Fuck, what have I done? This wasn't the best way to start off the morning, or finish it, or really spend any part of the day./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Lance.' I feel the other three members now turn to me. Going for the jugular before even a greeting. Totally her style. 'What do you have to say for yourself?' Huh? I truly feel like I'm behind on something. What could I have missed that could have triggered an Elite 4 meeting?/p  
p class="Normal"'I do believe that I have no clue what you're talking about'. While I may be calm in voice, I'm waiting for the trigger to be pulled./p  
p class="Normal"As she raises her right brow she states, 'Oh? Then there are no more words to be spoken. I lined up this video just in case you were caught unaware'. As the video starts, I immediately catch on that this is a replay of what happened yesterday. As the video plays out, and I watch the scene from an outside perspective, I see how much close the flames were to hurting the boy. Worse than that, I see how scared and hurt the eevee became from before and after the flame hit respectively. Seeing the boy's whole world crumble, only to hear my own arrogant comment really nailed the coffin shut. Not only was I a dick, but I was screwed. There was no way Agatha would let me off from this one. As the video is coming to it's conclusion and I get hit, I can hear Karen cackle and I'm sure Lorelai is smirking over to the side. Hearing the last few comments again, something seems a bit off when he states that he's not a trainer, but that's the least of my worries./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Now, dear Lance, you know why we're here. Don't worry though, I have no intention of chewing you out, or man-handling you'. Something's off here, I'm missing something. Knowing that I've been put off balance, she continued on. 'Do you happen to know who you were dealing with in that video?'/p  
p class="Normal"'The only person I know in that video is the blue haired girl. She introduced herself as you all saw as the daughter of Professor Elm. Other than that, I don't know who the challenger or the boy are'. I wasn't going to mention my theory about seeing him as a child, there was no reason to bring it up./p  
p class="Normal"'Ok then, let me give you a hint. He's a famous model in the Johto region by the name of Ethan Williams'. That wasn't a hint, that was the full answer. This woman and her games. May as well call her out on that one./p  
p class="Normal"'So I'm dealing with a known pretty boy then? I'm aware that Goldenrod is filled with the upper-class, but I'm not sure why it being him makes things any different. I know I handled the situation wrong, but that shouldn't matter who the recipient was. Or is there more? You said you gave me a hint. Was it the full answer, or was it truly just a hint?' This wasn't making any sense to me. Surely he was just another self entitled pretty boy with too much money./p  
p class="Normal"It was Lorelai who spoke next. 'Lance, the hint is in the surname, not the fact that he is a model'./p  
p class="Normal"'So the guy's family are politicians or something? I know it's not a clan name'./p  
p class="Normal"It was Karen to took delight in throwing the final knife at me. 'No, you just hurt the son of Norman Williams, the prior gym leader of Goldenrod!' Her cackling really was quite manic, but it made sense. My blood froze at the mention. Norman Williams was considered one of the most brutal gym leaders of the last decade. The fact that he managed such a large town at the same skill level as Sabrina and her family managed Saffron? Virtually unheard of. The man was revered in the region even after he moved to Hoenn./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"While that would be enough to spook anyone, Agatha wasn't finished. 'Ah! I see we're finally starting to catch on, but know that that is only the first step in the issue here,' everyone looks to her with a level of confusion. 'You see, not only did you destroy his son mentally, but you in fact knocked out his pokemon, and proceeded to insult her as well. Yes, that eevee was Normans'. I. Was. Fucked. I may as well go find that Salamence, because that would be a much better way to die right about now. 'And it gets even better still! You see, Norman called me this morning to tell me that his son and Ms Elm played the situation astronomically down, and neglected to say who's fire pokemon caused the damage, and what happened afterwards. Imagine his surprise when just hours later, a video is forwarded to him containing one of the Elite 4 members giving his son a verbal beat down. And now, in 2 whole minutes, he'll be doing a conference call with us all, right in this building!'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"My face turns ashen white as the tale grew, and even the girls weren't laughing anymore. We will all have to deal with an aggressive ursaring who discovered we had just captured it's baby. Before the two minutes was even up, the main screen lit up with a call request from none other than Norman Williams himself. With not a hint of hesitation in her step, Agatha clicked the accept button on the monitor, and a very pissed father showed up on the screen. Agatha, not one to be cowed in the slightest, greeted the man pleasantly. 'Hello Norman, lovely day we're having, isn't it?'/p  
p class="Normal"He didn't seem amused in the slightest, but retorted in fashion. 'Why yes, Agatha. The sun is shining, but I do hope the sun doesn't get out of control and hurt any pokemon or people. I know both that are somewhat susceptible to heat'. He turns his focus away from Agatha, and straight to me and snapped. 'Explain yourself Lance, at once!'/p  
p class="Normal"I'm not really sure where this guy got off talking to what would have been his superiors if he had of remained in the region, but the quicker this was over, the better. Unfortunately, Koga had no qualms with calling Norman out on it. 'Norman, I appreciate that this is a sensitive matter for you, but you must watch your tone. We are still the Elites while you are but a gym leader, of a foreign region mind you. We truly wouldn't want any international disasters happening based off your actions here'. Ok, that was kind of helpful. And now Norman's wrath has shifted over to Koga. Score one for Lance./p  
p class="Normal"'This incident has already become an international disaster when my son almost got hurt by a different region's Elite member! And you are in absolutely no place to talk. Who was it that had a daughter perish, and changed the way an entire nation ran in order to quell his fury?' That was a bit of a low blow really, but words can't be taken back now./p  
p class="Normal"With steel in his eye, Koga replied, 'What I did was based on the best interest of an entire nation, and many parents are forever thankful that their children are no longer being found dead in the field. Furthermore, this is not an international incident as those affected are all based in Johto. I advise that you take a moment to think about any future words you might have to say before you speak in this chat'./p  
p class="Normal"Finally seeing that he might have said something somewhat offensive and hit a bit too low, Norman took a breath and calmed himself slightly. When he regained control, he continued on, coming for a new angle. 'While my son might be from Johto soil and live there, the point that cannot be missed is that the eevee who was hurt was under my identification. Therefore, it is still a matter of attacking a foreign gym leader's pokemon'. Fairly sure that he had made his point without any room for refute this time, he leant back and decided to see now what replied would be spoken./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Sick of the direction that this chat had taken, Agatha decided to step back in. 'Norman, are you intentionally trying to make this a foreign issue?'/p  
p class="Normal"'No, but if that's the only way to be heard and protect my son, then that's the route I will take', he replied, unsatisfied with the response./p  
p class="Normal"Taking his words into consideration, Agatha continued on. 'So the issue at hand is that your pokemon was injured by a fraction of an attack? If you're looking to incite war with the kanto/johto region, I'd be happy to oblige. I assure you, defeating the Hoenn region will be distinctly easy if a gym leader's pokemon could be taken out by the common wild ratata. Care to explain just why your pokemon is so weak?' She was really going in and turning his words on him. This lady was as scary as they came, and there was a reason she's been the champion for such a large amount of time./p  
p class="Normal"Realising what she had done with his words, he sighed and dropped his macho facade. 'Look, I don't want war. I realise that the incident was a complete accident, but I can't help but worry about my kid when this sort of thing happens to him. As for why the eevee was taken out so easily, it's simply because she is a house pokemon to keep him company. She was never trained by myself or Ethan, nor will she ever be. That's why he was devastated and deeply affected by Lance's comment'. He turns back to me, probably only now remembering I was still here. 'What you said was a cowardly way of dealing with the situation. It showed a clear lack of empathy towards pokemon and I'm astounded that someone of your capabilities thinks in such a toxic way of 'weak and strong'. Surely Karen's philosophy would have rubbed off on you by now?' It was true, Karen preached how both strong and weak pokemon were all important on this world and co-existed to make it a better place. I'd be getting the speech again today now. 'Further, you don't know if a pokemon might be a child. Take that dratini on your shoulder, how frail do you think it would be if my Slaking accidentally blasted it with a focus blast? How would you react to the situation?'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"His words ring quite true. While dratini was a pokemon based off some very strong parents, it was still only a couple weeks old. If it got hit by a fully evolved pokemon, even just the off-cuts of the attack, it would be heavily damaged. 'I'm sure I would have destroyed the world if dratini got hurt. I already knew that I handled the situation wrong before our conversation, but I'm not sure I ever put myself in your son's shoes, or just why it was fragile. I saw a fully grown eevee with what I assumed was it's trainer underneath it and assumed it was fully trained. My observations were wrong, my reactions exacerbated the situation, and the whole thing was quite shameful. For that, I am truly sorry'. And I meant it. This wasn't just one clan appeasing another, I was truly in the wrong here./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'While a sorry doesn't mean anything to the past, I'm happy that you see the situation clearly now and hope you don't make such a mistake again. Next time, I won't be nearly so forgiving'. Words full of promise, rather than threat. He was coming for me next time./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Thinking that this mess was finally over, I hear Lorelai chip in. Lorelai, the most intelligent and analytical person in the Elite. Lorelai, who sees holes and theories that we all miss. Lorelai who won't let a topic out of her grasp until everything is known. There was a reason she was a phenomenal strategist and battler, she just didn't hold the gritty passion to be the champion. 'So that solves the issue of Lance's attitude and reaction to the situation, but we still need to get to the base of the situation'. All eyes turn to her with keen interest, while Norman looks in confusion. 'What is the reason that an adult, who is passed his majority, doing with a so-called 'family pokemon' who he obviously adores and cares the world for, but is not a registered trainer as he exclaims at the end of the video? Furthermore, why is it that a celebrity of your son's level has nothing but an untrained rare pokemon to protect him in a city full of thiefs and thugs?'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Those were actually very good questions. I knew something was off about the statement, but I couldn't place my finger on it, but the fact that he had no protection with his status was even more of an eye-brow raiser. You would think that this was the stage where Norman would reply, but that's not how Lorelai's brain works. 'You made specific mention to Koga and her daughter, which meant you were looking for an ally in what you regarded was a similar instance. You used the Fuma law's power to ensure that your son couldn't become a trainer in the interest of preventing him from dying in the field, didn't you? I know for a fact that the law when first presented could allow a gym leader to prevent their children from becoming trainers until they reached their majority, but I believe that the wording may have been ambiguous enough for you to hold him away from his trainer license at your own discretion'. With that, she finally finished, happy with her own conclusion, and relaxed back into her chair./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"All the mouths dropped at her final theory, but how could they not? It was truly above any of us, even Agatha, to catch on to such minute points as she did, and then to sort out the reasons why in a matter of minutes. And wow, this situation was turning out to be a bit of a dodgy one. Koga, the one most affected by the revelation spoke next. 'Williams, you better not be telling me that you manipulated the death of my daughter to make sure that your son could never enter the field'./p  
p class="Normal"The ice in Koga's voice making Norman unsure, but still replying. 'I did what I needed to do to ensure he never got hurt. He finds himself in dangerous situations too often even without his license, and I couldn't bear the pain if he were to die'./p  
p class="Normal"Koga softened just a touch at this, but didn't thaw out completely. I understand your sentiments, but the law is only meant to be used until his majority, and not to cage a child in for life. He will be able to grow stronger and safer with a team of his own under him, and I'm sure that being your son makes him extra capable of such a thing. Have some measure of faith in your child Norman, he's the only one you have'./p  
p class="Normal"Norman sighed from the other side, 'I'm not sure I can do that, I just worry too much.'/p  
p class="Normal"Agatha chimed back in. 'It doesn't matter how you feel. Knowing that there has been an oversight in the laws, we will change it immediately. We shall also veto your power as a gym leader and change the status of your son ourselves. In two weeks, he'll be able to sit for his license and you will have no ability to stop him. Finally, while I can't fine you for acting in the ambiguity of a law, what I can do is pass ownership of that eevee to your son instead of you to make up for the time he as been unfairly registered. That is all. Do you have any final words before we end the call Norman?'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"He looked agitated, but resigned, 'No, I see that this call only served to bite me in the arse, and not give me retribution. Thank you all for your time, have a good day'. With that, he hung up and we all pondered what had just happened. For myself, it was insane to imagine that Norman had used so much control over his son. Even when I was being raised as the heir for my clan, I was only expected to aim high, and use a dratini as my starter pokemon. Everything else was for me to decide, and looking back, I'm beyond thankful for that./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Lorelai, I trust that you and Koga can fix the law's wording within the hour?' With a nod from both respective Elite, she sent them on their way. 'Karen, you're free to return back to your task. Please make sure that the powerpoint is clear from any hazardous electric types so that plans for the magnet train can continue'. As Karen left, she paused and reminded me that she had not forgotten about the need to review the place of weak pokemon in this world. I had forgotten about that, and now I hoped that she would have too. 'Lance, I need to talk to you privately'. So I still wasn't out of the situation. She gets up and gestures for me to follow her. We walk in silence to her office before we sit back down and she finds a folder./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Despite what you think, I'm not here to dwell any longer on the topic, but instead, learning that you were spending time in Goldenrod opened up another opportunity. It has come to the league's attention that gang violence in Goldenrod has been increasing of late. Word is spreading that team rocket is in operation somewhere in the area. I want you to stay in Goldenrod for a while and trace these sources back to their roots. You may take up to four ace trainers with you to help scour the slums.'/p  
p class="Normal"'I understand the assignment, but does that mean that my holiday has been prematurely cut?' I honestly needed some time off, I was happy to just sit back and do nothing for a while, and damn it, I wanted to return to it./p  
p class="Normal"'Somewhat. You will be given an extended period in Goldenrod. You will only be expected to work there four days a week, while the ace trainers alternate with you. Other than that, your time is yours. You know the drill, if any operations are exposed, contact me immediately and we'll make a plan.'/p  
p class="Normal"Everything seemed workable and reasonable to me, so I nodded and made my way to the door. As I was nearing the exit to the room, I paused and turned back to her. 'What are you going to do about the Williams situation?'/p  
p class="Normal"She smirked, 'Once the two week transition is over, I'll tell him in person. I've been needing to go check on Morty anyway; can't have a slacking son.'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Satisfied, I exit to go set everything up./p 


	5. Chapter 5

p class="Normal"A/N- so posts are about to get slower because the first four chapters were done in like three days, and that's just not sustainable. I'm hoping to just chip at it a bit a day, hopefully one segment a day. Since I'm aiming for 3-5 segments in a chapter, that should equate to a chapter at least once a week, but humans are fickle and things change so we'll see./p  
p class="Normal"Still looking for a beta reader. I'm correcting the underlined words at the end, but if you are here reading this announcement on chapter 5, you've read more of this than I have./p  
p class="Normal"For those impatient with the speed of plot, things will start to move a bit quicker after this chapter. The next Ethan/Lance interaction is next chapter, and the start of Ethan's pokemon journey will began chapter 7/p  
p class="Normal"Finally, the Mr Pokemon segments will be occurring in every chapter. If not associated with the plot, it will be an extra tidbit after the chapter/p  
p class="Normal"-/p  
p class="Normal"Ethan's POV/p  
p class="Normal"Waking up on Sunday was a strange affair. I certainly wasn't used to having a good nights sleep, and it also didn't make sense that it would occur after such an awful day. Maybe I should start having those days every now and then so I can finally rest well. After getting out of bed and finishing in the bathroom, I scoop up the still resting Princess and carry her into the kitchen, a soft smile coming to my face when she tries to kick the magical demons she's destroying in her dreams./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Resting her on a chair while I sort out both our breakfasts, she wakes up as the smells start to assault her nose. Immediately perking up like she had three coffees within seven seconds, she springs up and rubs her body and tail on my legs. She would never head to my parents again after being spoiled by the food I supply for her, and she makes it no secret. 'Vii! E-vi'. As I'm chuckling, I place her food down on the ground while I finish up my meal. Finding out which flavours and berries a pokemon liked, and which still fit under a nutritious meal was a lot easier than people expect. You just have to balance a berry's natural flavours with a preset mix of other berries and ingredients. Every berry has certain characteristics, such as whether it is dry or sour, and so the PBA, or Pokemon Breeders Association, created concoctions to balance out each berry. From there, you keep several berries free, and get your pokemon to sniff each one and learn where its priorities lie./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Perfecting this technique is why Princess always had such a lush set of fur on her, and a healthy look in her eye. Most trainers just give a pokemon a bland set of everyday pokemon food, which while it gives sustenance, turns the process of eating into a chore instead of a joy. I learnt about it when my parents first moved out of home and I was left to look after the both of us ourselves. The breeding books turned out to be a huge wealth of pokemon information, and was the gateway to me knowing so much about pokemon in a whole. From habitats to the minimum exercise they should get per day to keep healthy, I knew it for a large portion of the kanto and johto pokemon. In fact, what no one knew, including Lyra and my parents was that for the last year, I have been working once per week at the radio tower on a pokedex show. During the sequence, I go under the alias of Mr Pokemon and am working through the kanto dex one pokemon at a time discussing unique features, odd stories, breeding patterns and the like./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The previous host was caught handing out completely false information on the pokemon, and was putting people in danger with some of the information provided. One of the most notorious pieces of information they supplied the audience with was that if you are ever faced with a seaking coming after you, if you splash it, it will startle and swim off. I'm not quite sure why some trainers decided to try this, but there were quite a few accidents by people trying to replicate the information. All my information was a lot more scientific, with a touch of anecdotal evidence by trainers who have put in their experience with that weeks pokemon. Being in numerical order, it was pretty easy to know what was coming. Tomorrow I'll be going over Poliwhirl, and there was a bit of hype surrounding it as it was a distinct pokemon who could use hypnosis. That was tomorrow's problem though./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I'm half way through eating breakfast, and Princess has joined me, I hear my pokegear go off in the bedroom and notice that Lyra is calling me. She's probably just checking in on Princess. As I accept the call I give a generic greeting. 'Hey Lyra. What's up?'She seems oddly frantic about something, but I'm sure she'll let me know in a second./p  
p class="Normal"'I'm good. By the way you're completely unfazed, I'm assuming you haven't seen the news today?' I shake my head no. 'Ethan, the battle from yesterday was filmed and has spread like wildfire. People are eating up the drama of two celebrities getting into a fight. While a lot of people are taking your side, the punch you threw and the fact you have a rare pokemon with no license is turning people against you. Please don't go out today, the paparazzi will have a field day with you. Worse still is the fact that you can't avoid your parents learning about the full situation now.' She finally stopped for a breath and gave me the concerned look./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As for me, I guess I'm resigned to the situation, but know that it really can't affect me that much. I'm sure the video would have shown me breaking down, and that is probably the worst part of it all. Nothing looks worse than ugly tears on the news, and now I was stuck with that fact. God damn, why did it all have to happen, and the worst part of all? My hand still hurt from the punch I was going to get demonetized for. The same punch that I'm sure hurt me more than it hurt him. Damn that guy was like a brick wall though./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I can't promise I won't go out today Lyra. I'll get my PR representative to speak to the tabloids and let them fix up the situation. It shouldn't be that difficult really with what was displayed; I was clearly in a dark place at the time. I'll also get them to throw in the fact that Princess is a house pokemon that belongs to me dad. It's not unreasonable to think that a Normal type gym leader would own an eevee, and it is actually the truth. As for dad? I'm guessing that he's probably going to go for Lance rather than me, so that's a relief.' I finish up and she looks quite a bit more appeased./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'It seems like you've got this covered. I have no clue how you can stand the fame and having everyone care what you do, as well as breathing down your neck when you do something wrong. I'd go absolutely insane if that was me!' And she would. For someone that used to dream about owning her own fashion industry, it quickly crumbled when she saw what the high-rollers truly had to deal with./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'You know I do it out of necessity rather than choice. I'd much rather swap jobs with you. Speaking of which, have you asked your grandparents about me helping out?'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'No, but I'll ask today. Don't expect a response straight away; they love you, but they're do-gooders who wouldn't want to risk breaking the law. Eventually, family should win out, but not before they tumble and turn at night about it'. While the offer sounded amazing, I didn't want to cause them any sort of psychological issues either./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Are you sure it's good to ask them such a thing if you know they'll struggle with the process of it?'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I'm not sure it will be good for them, but you'll make up the issue with the work you do, so I'm not ashamed of putting them in that position. God knows they're getting older and need some extra hands.'/p  
p class="Normal"When she puts it like that, I'm still doing them a favour by putting them through it all, so that's good enough for me. 'Ok, as long as you're sure, please go ahead with it. Thank you for everything Lyra, and I'll see you soon'. After hanging up, I finally finish my breakfast./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"When I was ready, I called up my PR representative, a woman name Stella Myers, and told her the details of the incident so she could clean it up for me. After doing so, I grabbed Princess and decided to spend such a beautiful summers day down by the complex pool. I was going to enjoy this day no matter what was going on around me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"The Next day/p  
p class="Normal"Ethan's POV/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With the reassurance that Stella had done all she could to minimise backlash, Monday came along and reignited my passion for the model industry and my work life. That passion, however, was a passionate hate, and oh god why do Mondays need to always come and ruin my week? I just needed to get through the work day, and then I could head to the radio tower for my other work./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Doing the average morning dance and routine, I left the complex, making sure that the windows were open so Princess had a nice breeze she could sit under and sun bake. After the short walk into the central business district of town, I walk into the building of Multiscale Supermodels, an industry I had been working with for the last six years when the agency heard of me. They only dealt with those they believed would make it big, and those that would earn them the most money. For a business, that was fairly predictable and could be ignored. This was coupled with the fact that half the models in the industry made it onto a world level, so anyone who was anyone in the industry wanted to be tied in someway or another to the organisation./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Even though I had made it big in the industry, I was not the biggest name right now. Modestly, I would probably only put myself in the bottom of the top five names. Could I have been at the top? Perhaps, but I didn't have the cutthroat personality to cut my way to the top. Hell, I didn't even have the passion to begin with, just raw talent and a pretty face. Everyone knew that my drive was lacking in that regards, so I wasn't the target for malicious intent, but I was still a hard worker who threw my best in which was why I was still tolerated by my employers./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I walk in, saying a polite hello to the security guards and passed all the checkpoints, I made my way up to the office of my manager on one of the middle levels of the building. Thankfully the organisation came with its own managerial teams so everything could be processed in house. I approach the office I needed to attend to and knocked on the respective door. Being invited in, I realise that the office is in shambles yet again. For such an organised person, Leo York was utterly abysmal with housekeeping and maintaining order in his office and life. As I take a look at him, I realise that he's in a particularly bad mood today. Taking a seat, I brace for whatever his mood has in store for me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I would ask if you had a good weekend, but the tabloids say otherwise. Do you know just how much of a mess you've made in the 24 hours that people thought you nothing more than a delinquent thug harboring an illegal rare pokemon? Even after the article your representative printed out, people aren't willing to forgive you for hitting one of the five biggest names in the Kanto-Johto bisection. I've had four of your offers pull out for this week, and have barely held on to some of your biggest labels. Did you know that your clauses in the contract with Manectric Designs, the biggest brand you're working with, specifically states that, and I quote, 'the representative must at all times represent the image of the brand, and any anti-social behavior may result in the termination of the contract'? I'm struggling Ethan. I truly am to fix this mess. Anyway, you've only got one photoshoot for today since you've gone and screwed up the other two you were meant to have. Please head to floor 27 where Anne will direct you from there. Now get out.'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Well no niceties there. I knew he was in a bad mood, but damn that was next level. Not as much as a 'hi', and a get out at the end with no room to apologise or explain? Yikes that was bad. Hearing that one of my biggest brands almost pulled the pin and let me go was also nerve-wracking; if they pulled, it was going to be a scandal, not just in the organisation, but in the tabloids as well. Every since the brand hit notorioty among the youth scene several years back, I was their model of choice. In most towns they had two stores split into their affordable ranges. From their daughter stores 'Plusle's Surplus', to the richer upper class designs of 'Magetric'. Both were at the pinnacle of fashion for under 25's. With free clothing from Magetric with every fashion shoot, it was every diva models dream to be a part of, so if I lost this, I was screwed./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Shooting a quick message to Stella, I hit floor 27 and Anne describes to me what needed to be done. It was an easy photoshoot for a middle sized jewelery chain. I'm glad that I only needed to be here a couple hours and I could disappear again. After getting hair and make-up completed, I complete the fashion shoot within another half hour, and make sure that the photographers with the brand are satisfied with the photos. I didn't need to do this based on the comments and direction they gave, but for the sake of professionalism, I was always going to ensure that they got my best side and what they needed from me. With that completed, I was about to bid farewell to Anne when she told me that Leo wished to see me again before I left the building. Annoyed that I only just missed skipping the building, I head back down to his office and re-enter after a quick knock./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Hey Leo, you wanted to speak to me again?' I ask, if only out of pettiness at not getting to speak this morning. He looks like he's calmed down again, so this will be a lot more layed back anyway./p  
p class="Normal"'Yes. Firstly, between both myself and Mrs. Myers, we've protected Manectric designs, since we've been able to convince them that you were only in a distraught frame of mind, and we cleared up the illegalities of your eevee. I've also managed to convince two of the other cancellations to rethink your use, one of which was meant to be done today, but we've moved it to Wednesday instead'. He finished and I gave a nod to say both that I was grateful for his work, and that I understood both the information and the hidden warning from Manectric designs./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With this, he continued on. 'Furthermore, I recieved a request today for a photoshoot in Ecruteak for next week Sunday. It seems that the famous Kimono Girls saw the video, and were inspired by the bond you share with your eevee, and so set up a contract for you to have a photoshoot with them. I can't tell you what an honor it would be for you to take this opportunity. For a clan famed for the protection of the legends Ho-oh and Lugia to be invested in someone outside their clan is almost unheard of'. And it truly was. I was astounded that such an exclusive clan would ask for me, and me alone to come join them. Princess really did do me a favor on this one, and she deserved to be spoiled tonight, and spoiled in the meeting, because nothing but an angry dragon god was keeping me away from that place./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'I know you would have accepted already, but please do so if you haven't, this will be such an amazing offer! Please cancel my Friday bookings next week as well. I'll travel up on Friday, which should get me there mid-day Saturday. I can't wait! It's been so long since I left town, and for such an honor as well? I'm just about vibrating with joy right now!'/p  
p class="Normal"With a smile on his face, Leo stated, 'Yeah, yeah. I know I'm a good manager. Don't forget that you're still in the dog-house for your little stunt, and you better deliver in the next couple weeks to make up for it. Now get out and I'll mail you your new schedule for the week when I have it completed in another hour or so.'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Only vaguely sobered by that, I bounce out of his office with a 'Bye!', and exit out to go find some lunch. I deserved to treat myself after this. Only one and a half weeks and I go on one of the best holidays I've been on in a long while. I should tell my mum about this, she'll be so jealous that I wouldn't be surprised if she spontaneously took a trip overseas to come with me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As much as I was excited for the trip, I knew I needed to put it in the back of my head enough to focus on tonight's broadcast. Speaking of which, I'll need to prerecord the boadcast in two week's time sometime around Thursday next week. That will give the audience enough time to get their anecdotes and stories in about abras. I'm a little excited to do a broadcast on a psychic pokemon actually, they were the first ones I had the opportunity to talk about./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Arriving at the cafe for lunch, I grab the notes and book from my bag and start the double checking of all my information to ensure my knowledge is accurate and relevant, not to mention I knew the listener's chosen stories back to front so I can relegate them to the audience listening. With food, a passion, and a joy, I sent myself to work./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"4pm same day- Goldenrod tower/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With a spring in my step, I arrive at the Goldenrod radio station. A mammoth of a building easily distinguishable among the others on the northern section of the beach. It was here that I felt like I could shed the facade that I placed upon myself in my day to day activites, and become the person that I wished to be and felt I truly was- a pokemon nerd./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"First starting 61 weeks ago, I wowed the producers with my passion and knowledge for the source. It doesn't hurt that I particularly llike the kanto starters either since I spent my first two months talking about them. They accepted that I wished to remain anonymous due to my notoriety in life, and dubbed me the name of Mr. Pokemon, a name that I whole-heartedly embraced. The show had also gained a larger following by active trainers as it held information that could truly benefit them, and there were even a few messages that came through about the information saving their lives (knowledge of fearows in particular). Without a doubt, it warmed my heart knowing that I was where I wanted to be, and I was out there helping others./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I walk in, I show the security guard my id pass, and am allowed access without much trouble. Thankfully, the staff here are all aware of my identity, but none have discussed it with the press. There has been a couple articles about how often I frequent the tower, but nothing conclusive to my relief. I'm shocked that a super fan hasn't pieced the information together since while I go under a different name, there is no distortion to my voice. I guess it's easy to miss considering I'm only known as a pretty face; playing up on the stereotypes that I was nothing but an air-head sure did wonders for my secret life I lead. In fact, the whole incident with Lance, and the widespread knowledge that I'm not a licensed trainer would work to my advantage as well. It wouldn't hurt my job here since I was open about that fact right from the start./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"My producer, a man named Daniel Symmons was waiting for me when I got into the room. I still had 15 minutes before we went to air, so I decided to discuss the Ecruteak visit early./p  
p class="Normal"'Hey Daniel, I was wondering if I'd be able to do my Monday fortnight's broadcast mid-next week. I've got a job over in Ecruteak next weekend and I don't think I'll be back in time for Monday's broadcast'. He gave a sigh, but I knew he'd be fine with it; he always liked to make people think that they owed him one./p  
p class="Normal"'I guess so, but you're going to need to do it Thursday, I don't have time to do it anywhere else in the week, and you'll still need the audience interaction. I'll send some of the stories to you a day earlier than usual so you can plan your broadcast. You're lucky we love you over here, otherwise we wouldn't bend like this and do a playback'. And it was true, while they did a playback during the week of a passed pokemon, the Monday segments were always done live, so they were doing me a favour there./p  
p class="Normal"'But what would you do without me? I hear that the guy on the streets who hear he got molested by a jynx is looking for a job. Could be fun?' I see him shudder and I know that he's aware of exactly who I'm talking about. Funny guy, but funny in the sense that you laugh at him, and not with him./p  
p class="Normal"'Go get ready you little scamp'. Raising my eye-brow due to the fact that he was only a couple years older than me, I do as ordered and set up my notes and head set ready to go. Finally, I hear the one minute call and ready myself. 'And we're on in 3, 2, 1.' he gives me the salute and off I go./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Welcome back one and all to another session of The Pokedex Show, with Mr Pokemon. Today we'll be continuing our journey through not only the Kanto pokedex, but through the poliwag evolutionary line. For those new to the show, in this weekly series, we discuss aspect of a pokemon including physical characteristics, habitats, abilities and first hand experiences you, the viewers, have had with such a pokemon./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Today we move to entry 61- Poliwhirl. Poliwhirl, in essence, is a larger, more predatory version of it's base form, poliwag. Poliwhirl is identified as the padpole pokemon, just like poliwag. It grows to an average size of 1m as opposed tp poliwag's 600m, and will continue to grow further upon evolution. While their bodies do grow upon evolution, the significant size difference actually spreads from their legs rather than torso. They will also gain an extra pair of limbs from its torso which in turn become arms with white glove like hands. The final physical change on evolution will be a poliwhirl's eyes; instead of being at the top of its torso, it instead grows on top of the torso now, giving a poliwhirl a much larger field of vision./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"In terms of habitat, there is not much of a difference between a poliwag and poliwhirl. They both prefer to live in water, no matter if it is a creek, lake or swamp, but the primary difference is that a poliwhirl can now tolerate living on land significantly better. The only drawback to this is that while it may live on the ground, it still needs to have a source of water available so that it's skin doesn't dehydrate./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"For diet, upon evolution, a poliwhirl becomes more so of a carnivore than the herbivorous state of a poliwag. A large porion of their diet consists of other water types, especially the softer variations of pokemon including goldeens and marills. They have been known to start feasting on the likes of krabby and shellder as they become stronger and near the peak of their evolutionary state. With the ability to walk on land, poliwhirls also learn to hunt after bugs. In freshwater areas, they are seen going after caterpies and metapods, while in their preferential habitat of the swamplands, they feast upon yanma, which seem to be a delicacy to the tadpoles. It has also been noted that surskit swarms are often indicative that a family of poliwags will be in the area soon. As both a soft bug, and a water dwelling creature, they are a dream catch for poliwhirls despite being a Hoenn native./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As far as being prey goes, poliwhirl doesn't have many natural predators. This fact is offset by the pokemon being victim of many larger variants of birds. It has been witnessed in the field that fully evolved birds such as pidgeot and fearow are attracted to the concept of a large tadpole. In the defence of the poliwhirl, it's middle spiral undulates constantly throwing off the larger predators visual depth and perception, and can sometime send them to sleep. This is particularly dangerous for birds with the keen eye ability as they see the movement of the belly in more clarity. A poliwhirl also has the ability 'swift swim', which allows it to gain speed in wet conditions. While the birds may be fast, a wet poliwhirl is just as much, but has the benefit of the terrain also./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Joining its swift swim ability are both damp, as well as water absorb. Damp is crucial for a poliwhirl to live on land, because as discussed earlier, it can only stay on land for as long as it stays lubricated. This ties in with water absorb as it can very quickly rehydrate its body upon returning to the water. It is said that an almost completely dehydrated poliwhirl will only need 10 minutes completely submerged in water before it is at full hydration./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As far as attacking moves go, the evolution from poliwag to poliwhirl doesn't open many opportunities. It doesn't naturally use any new moves, but changes how it uses some of them. Of particular note is double-slap and wakeup slap. As a poliwag, it will use its tail which is not a very powerful appendage. On evolution, it gains the two large fists on its arms, and the effectiveness of these moves skyrockets in comparison. It is of note also that a poliwhirl gains the ability to use the tms for both psychic and earthquake. It is believed that the spiral pattern on its body is connected with psychic powers, but it wasn't until recently that scientists discovered that a poliwhirl's psychic capabilities surpassed the use of hypnosis through the spiral on its belly. Earthquake is a more natural occurrence as it gains not only power and weight, but the length and strength of its legs also add to the ability to form the seismic waves. This is an increase of power from its poliwag form where it could only use bulldoze./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Now, for the part of the segment that everyone loves and enjoys, it's time for the listener's stories. Every week, I ask for the stories from all of you out there based on your experience of the broadcast pokemon. Today, we have two entries. One based on a mating dance, and another where the poliwhirl confused itself with its own prowess./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The mating dance story is from Jenny in Vermillion City- Kanto. She said that when she was young, her family used to take weekend trips north of the city in Route 6. One time, when she was 8, the family camped up by one of the rivers in the area. Jenny stated that she once woke up, only to find that across the river were three poliwhirls, two of which were staring intently at each other, while the third looked at the interaction. She said that she didn't understand at the time, but learnt years later what had happened. She discovered that there were two males trying to hypnotise the other to prove to the female onlooker that they were the superior male. This would have been fine, she says, if one of them had actually succeeded. The female, who got cross that two weak poliwhirls would dare waste their time, ended up doubleslapping them both before walking off, perhaps to find a better suitor./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The other story comes from Chris from Two Island, in the Sevii Archipeligo. He states that one time he was up on the peak of the waterfall on the island when one spearow decided to mistake a poliwag for a poliwhirl. Diving upon its prey, the poliwhirl grabbed the spearow out of reflex and watched dumbfounded as it caught the bird. Not sure what to do with it, it sent the bird to sleep, drowned it under water, and went back to floating in the sun./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"It's important to note after a gruesome death for the spearow, that humans are also capable of being hypnotised by a poliwhirl. We hear at the Goldenrod Radio Centre do not recommend trying to catch and eat a poliwhirl. It is also recommended that if anyone where to try and catch one to bring a mankey, or to be extra cautious if one is caught./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"That's all the time we have today. I hope you've all enjoyed this week's segment, and have learnt some valuable information. Please remember that the station will now be accepting your stories for next weeks pokemon, poliwrath. Until next time listeners, study hard, and stay safe.'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Phew, all done for another week. I grab something to drink as I found myself ironically parched. Maybe I needed the damp ability too. I'm virtually as aquatic as a poliwhirl. With a clap, I hear that Daniel was satisfied with yet another episode. 'I really don't know where you get your information from, but you are always so well prepared, and come with fascinating information. It's always hard to believe you aren't a trainer when you spout off facts like a renown professor. I'm sure Professor Oak would take you on as an apprentice in a heartbeat./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'It helps having a gym leader for a father, but I study hard to keep on my A game here. It certainly isn't a walk in the park to get it all, and to get it all right at that'. We continue talking for a little bit before heading out. For a day I was so worried about, this day actually turned out pretty well, but I can't wait to just get home and snuggle with Princess for the night. At that, I head home, grateful for those who've helped me out and supported me./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"The day after: Tuesday/p  
p class="Normal"Goldenrod East slums/p  
p class="Normal"Lance's POV/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Finally having chosen and prepped the team, Lance had Will, a psychic Ace Trainer teleport the team over to Goldenrod. The team was initially a bit startled since they landed in the ocean, but another quick teleport later, and they reached their intended destination./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I'm going to wring his throat at. Truly, I have no idea why he is allowed on the Ace Trainers. A menace with superhuman powers, really. I'd be forever grateful if Sabrina and he could swap. While she may be as emotionally stunted as a child whose parents went berserk from their psychic powers and committed suicide, she was still better than the pathetic, empathetic guy who couldn't teleport to save his life. I know I'm in charge of this mission, but shot gun not being paired together. I'd leave him unpaired if I didn't know he was a hazard, and that I ultimately worked better alone anyway. Time to go order the team around I think./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Now, I know that we've already gone over the general information, but let's quickly go over our procedure'. Knowing they were listening, I pressed onward. 'Our goal is to solidify the claim that team rocket is operating in the slums of Goldenrod. We shall split into three groups. Will, you'll be with Trina. Trina, you shall be operating as one of the city's middle status citizens. Will, you shall stay out of sight, and use your empathy to study any particular violent auras. Sam and Aaron, you will both be playing the parts of the city's homeless. I want you to find any black markets and drug deals going on within the slums and report how the gangs affect these businesses. For myself, I will go alone and try to worm my way into team rocket myself. Under the alias of Cain, I will achieve this. I would suggest that you all create fake names while you are under cover.'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"'Today, we will all take a quick trip to the Goldenrod department store and find outfits for our time here. We shall need to do it particularly soon as someone decided to drop us in the ocean'. With this, I send a scathing look at Will who seems entirely unperturbed.'You will be expected to work five days in a week, while I shall be working four days, due to the fact that this whole thing is eating into my holiday time. I will still be available during my off days, so do not hesitate to send regular reports through to me. I know that you are all powerful trainers, but do not underestimate the situation.'/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After my rousing speech, we go out and shop our outfits. For myself, I unfortunately had to bypass capes in it's entirety, which was a little soul crushing, but I had enough experience to let go of the matter. The most crucial aspect was to change my hair colour, and hide my muscle. Figuring that going brown with the hair dye and matting my hair was going to be the easiest solution, I went ahead with that. I joined that with some oversized shirts, low hanging pants, and a thick, but obviously fake, chain. I hated myself when I looked in the mirror. I looked like I was impoverished, and that was something I hoped I'd never have to associate with. Giving my team members death threats when they were about to comment shut them up pretty quickly, but I'm sure I heard a snicker or two from the boys./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As we all moved as one through the shops, it was obvious that we were an eye-sore to the upper class shoppers in the centre, but that just went to show how good we were at our jobs, and how not one single person recognised an Elite 4 member right in front of their eyes. Sending the other members to find their assigned lodgings while undercover, I went into the heart of the east to do an initial scope of the area./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"On first glance, the east is just a modest town, nothing out of the ordinary. Cookie cutter small homes as far as the eye can see. On second glance though, things start to go wrong. No house seems to be unscathed, whether it be a broken letterbox, a missing window, a vandalized wall; there seems to be a unique story to every house. The streets are littered with human bodies, often looking as if they are settled on their current stretch of the street. Litter as far as the eye can see, and probably some grimer and ratata hiding in every nook and cranny. The strong stench of urine is evident in the air, as well as the sounds of fighting and generally raised voices. I don't know what I was expecting, but this was quite simply disgusting./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I'm now sure of why I was sent here. In this sort of environment, it would be easy for an organisation to prey upon the general thugs and scum in order to boost their numbers. Intuition tells me that there is indeed team rocket members in the area, and it unfortunately fell on me to join their ranks. Thank God this was only a four day gig, otherwise I was going to go crazy and stab something, or really, I'd just become one of the natives here./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I get a few worried glances as I walk on through, knowing that even though I've covered as much of my body up as possible, it's still an intimidating visage. One doesn't simply lose the aura of a noble dragon tamer so easily after all. Realistically, I'm going to be using this to my advantage to be recruited. Naturally, once they hear that promising fresh meat is out wandering the streets, they will be interested in what I have to offer. It also doesn't hurt that Koga lent me a couple of his old retired gym pokemon for me to use, being one of his koffing, and a tentacool./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Coming across a shady looking group, I approach them and begin one of the most shameful acts of my career to date. 'Yo bros, I'm looking for a little pep for my pokemon. You got any?' The group gave me stand-offish looks, but figured that I was either genuine, or that they could take me on in case I wasn't./p  
p class="Normal"'What are you looking for? We got a guy who could help'. Well, this could be easier than I thought, I haven't had to beat anything into submission yet./p  
p class="Normal"'I'm looking for something to beat that ho Whitney in battle. The little bitch needs to be shown her place, and I'm willing to take the job. Anything you got from black sludge to pokerus syringes for my koffing will do'. They laugh at the degrading comments about Whitney, and that confirms that either they're misogynistic, or she just really isn't popular among the thugs down here./p  
p class="Normal"'Don't worry bro, we can get you the goods you need, just come with us. Just make sure you can pay the boss, otherwise things will get messy. You from out of town? Koffing ain't found much round here'. Knowing that he was the leader of the current group I was with, I had no reservations about spreading my backstory./p  
p class="Normal"'Nah, I'm from Ecruteak. Came here a couple weeks back to make it big, ya know, but all I found was a bunch of stuck up pompous dicks and nowhere to go, so I've decided that I'm gonna smack round the leader a bit before getting out of here. Guess I'll just travel round, just me an ma koffing just spreadin chaos where-eva we go'. I hate myself so much, but oh well./p  
p class="Normal"'Truth, yo. You gotta know the right people round here to get by. Ya know what? The boss I'm takin ya to might be able to help if you're interested. He runs things in this quadrant, so he knows all the best people to make it down here. Here we are'. He knocks four times on the door. 'Oi Barry! It's me. Brought some fresh blood for ya, this one could be promising'. As the door opens, a lanky man in his mid 20's opens the door. For someone around my age, I truly got the looks, the brawn, and probably the brains in life./p  
p class="Normal"'This the kid? Seems older than the normal recruit? You sure he aint a snitch?' He gave the guide a piercing look. 'If he turns out to be sour, I'mma make Arbok put eight rounds of poison sting into your arse before it throws an acid spray over your little gang'./p  
p class="Normal"Obviously used to such threats, the guide wasn't phased. 'Nah, this one seems legit. Angry at the system, and only looking for a bit of special fire power to put the cow in her place'. The cow? Was that a reference to Whitney, or to her Miltank? Works regardless honestly. 'You got a poison barb, or black sludge in stocks? Kid says he's got da money'./p  
p class="Normal"With a raised brow, Billy decided that he may as well oblige a paying customer if they could actually pay. 'I've got poison barb kid, but it'll be 4000P, sure you can afford it?' Shit, that was a lot, but worth the mission./p  
p class="Normal"'I can pay for it, but know that if it turns out to be fake, koffing and I will be back, and it won't be pretty. Got that?'/p  
p class="Normal"'You threatening me kid? You really must be new if you don't know how the streets work. The way this goes down, is that you street rats listen to your betters, or you wake up with holes in you. Understand, or is that too much for your puny little brain to understand? Know that us rocket grunts are significantly better than you'. Score one to Lance, happy birthday to me. This was even easier to find than that one guy selling fake evolutionary stones a couple years back./p  
p class="Normal"All those around me were staring in worried looks, obviously knowing that Billy was starting to get serious. That worked for me. 'It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. You may be a rocket grunt, but my pokemon I can promise you would asphyxiate the common arbok. You might have connections and power around here, but that means nothing when those around you are dead'. I finish by placing my finger over the pokeball on my waste./p  
p class="Normal"The tension bubbled around us until finally, Billy cracked up laughing. 'You're alright kid, what was your name?' Telling him that it was Cain, he continued on. 'Well Cain, you were right to be brought here. While I'm in charge of this quadrant, I'm always on the lookout for fresh meat in Team Rocket, and you just might have a future there. Give me 5, and I'll get your poison barb'./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With that, I gave him my contact details, and he said I'd be message in the next few days by one of the recruiters. Finally being done with the whole ordeal, I returned to my hotel using one of Will's abra that I had tucked away in my pocket, and send a report over to the rest of my team. Showering the dye out of my hair and getting back into some respectable clothes, I relax knowing that until I get the message, I can take some time off./p 


	6. Chapter 6

A/N- Where I'm at with this story: So I'm enjoying writing the story, but I know that the formatting needs work. I've looked back over chapter 5 and fixed several errors, and hopefully made it a little cleaner. Thankfully, it also allowed to correct a couple inconsistencies with this chapter. I've also somewhat proof-read this chapter, but not completely. As for chapters 1-4, I'll start to revise them in between chapter 7's segments to break the task up. They will all be reposted when the new chapter is out

For this chapter: I initially hated the first part, but I don't think it's awful on re-reading it. This chapter is massive since I had to cram a couple extra segments at the end so I could get to the Ecruteak chapter next

Lots of ideas still to come, it looks like this story will be continuing to quite the considerable length. Original estimated length was 20K, we are now around 32K. and the new estimated length should be 50-80K minimum.

Thank you to those who have read and reviewed. I am listening and open to your words. Please tell me if this chapter was at least somewhat easier to read.

If you do have an issue, please specify which section it is in. I'm now placing where each segment is taking place, and whose POV it is, so use that as a guide in your review to fix things.

Enjoy Xx

Wednesday

Goldenrod Upper-class Aquatic Pavilion

Ethan's POV 

With Wednesday afternoon came one of my favorite times of the week: swimming time. Ever since I came to the big city, my mother made me take swimming lessons so I would always be safe in the ocean. Dad also encouraged it in case my ship casually sunk due to an angry gyarados and I found myself out to sea without a boat. It really didn't make sense from that perspective as the gyarados would still catch up to me in seconds and turn me into a snack. And I do mean snack, those things are enormous, no chance to survive against one of them.

But I digress, over the years, while I knew I was never going to become an elite swimmer, I did find that it was an amazing form of exercise, kept me fit and healthy, and allowed me to gorge on treats more than the average person could. This was coupled with the joy of being able to phase out all of my issues in life and just 'be' for a while. Letting the world pass you by did wonders for my mental health, so swimming turned into the full package for me.

It did come with a single drawback though. "Oh Ethan! I've been looking all over for you! You act like you purposefully ignore me or something". And there it was; Misty Waterflower in all her glory. Being the runt of the Waterflower sisters, Misty eventually decided to move to Goldenrod to train as an elite level swimmer, whilst also using the pavilion's trainer pools to continue the training of her team. A fierce swimmer, a fairly accomplished trainer, and not awful on the eyes. You would think that she'd be more popular with the guys, however, she spent her time pining over one certain person: me. You'd think she would have gotten the memo years ago that I wasn't interested, even in the slightest. Like, I'd be more interested in that restaurant that serves magcargo, and that is one of my most morbid curiosities, and not something I'd ever genuinely try out.

While I could always pray that she would magically lose interest, today seemed like it would follow the normal patterns. This included jokes, bitching about the other swimmers, and grabbing my hand more often than needed. Let's get this over with so I can finally enjoy myself.

"Hi Misty, I didn't see you there". Casual, and disinterested, my base state here.

"That's ok. Do you notice anything different?" Huh? This was a bit of a new one.

"Did they fix that tap by the children's playground?" If they didn't they really needed to, the parents were complaining how it had been broken for the last week, and when you're dealing with the richest families in the city, you deliver.

My comments do nothing but add some frustration to her expression, but she quickly smothers it in order to, and I might be wrong here, give herself a self-induced pap-smear with her arms. "No, silly! I got a new set of bathers! I brought them just for you". Oh, the poor unfortunate soul.

"You realise they have goldeens on them right? I'm pretty sure I've seen children's underwear with the same pattern". As she turned red out of embarrassment, I continued on. "I'm not sure why you would buy bathers for me, when I'm the model here, if you wanted to impress me with your fashion choices, you failed miserably. Next time you go shopping for another set, I'll go with you and make sure this doesn't happen again". Shit, good will Wednesday just happened, but my mistake has been made.

She naturally forgets all the insults I just made about her fashion choices and latches on to the one thing of use to her, "You'll go shopping with me? You're such a cutie, no wonder we're perfect together". As she winks at me, there's only one way to salvage the situation.

"I could never leave my little sister out in the cold like that". Visibly deflating, I knew it worked.

We make our way over to the main pool and start our session. I'm not even sure why someone of Misty's level swims alongside us, but it's good for the morale of the class to have someone to aspire to. Still a pain in my arse that she will only go in my lane and she almost literally swims laps around me, but I've learnt to tune it out and simply enjoy myself. As we finish the session, tired but satisfied with life, I get out and find that my stalker is already latching on and chattering away.

"What an easy session that was, swimming with these groups just doesn't push me since no one is at my level, but it's great to have a time to focus purely on technique". I don't think she realises that she's insulting me yet again to make herself seem better. I saw her struggle just minutely in that last set anyway, so it's just hot air coming from her. Quite the natural occurrence really.

While we are making our way towards the change-rooms, we see a surprisingly large group between the entrance to the pokemon pools and the outside pools. It was a somewhat interesting development since this pool was frequented by the rich and famous, being made purely for the upper class. That's not even factoring in that some of the most famous swimmers in the world trained in this complex. So who would cause such a fuss? I feel a hand grab mine, and heard a "let's check it out!" before I was manhandled towards the crowd.

As I saw a head of scarlet hair, I was instantly frozen with a sense of deja vu.. Surely the fates couldn't be so cruel as to run into this man twice in less than a week, not to mention have a physical altercation with him. Feeling my sudden tenseness and shock on my face, Misty gave me a confused look, before she clicked. From there, I knew things were going to go south very fast.

We arrive in the circle and I realise that as intimidating as the man was, he was downright scary with his clothes off. Every inch of thick muscle was on display making me seem as meek as a little lamb. Arms? Pecs? Abs? Legs? He had it all and was on full display for everyone to envy. In fact, the only part of him that wasn't bare was the area covered by his swimming trunks, and his... Neck? What was that thing lying around his neck, and why did it just wiggle? Blue, with a white belly in a serpentine figure. Why, the only thing that resembled something like that was a dratini?

Wait just a hot second. Elite 4 member who specializes in the vicious and elusive dragons, and an object that looked oddly like a dragon... My eyes light up like stadium lights at the prospect of being so close to a real dratini! Suddenly, this whole thing seems worth-it.

However, while I'm stuck in my daydreams, the real world was getting messy. Misty had trudged through the gathered crowd, heaving me every millimeter of the way and declared rather boisterously, "Lance Wataru, I, Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City challenge you to a match to avenge my boyfriend!" Oh. My. God. Did she just declare battle, and declare that we were dating? Bloody shenanigans.

Lance, bothered by the noise more than anything turned to check where said noise had come from. Quickly glancing at Misty, and seeing who this 'fallen boyfriend' was, he met my gaze and noticed how uncomfortable and over it I was, not to mention how my hand was still in Misty's vicegrip. Surprised at first to see my face, the reaction was quickly dropped before he... Wait, did he just lower and raise his eyes? Did he seriously just check me out? It can't have been, but then why did Misty's anger suddenly become palpable? '

"Misty Waterflower? The sister of the three Cerulean City gym leaders? And dear Ethan Williams, the son of Norman Williams, the prior Goldenrod City gym leader. What a... quaint couple". Definitely mocking if the small smirk meant anything. "I accept your challenge. If you win, Ethan's 'honor' will be avenged, and you will take over my position as an Elite 4 member". At this, Misty looked surprisingly smug. "But if I win, I get to take Mr Williams out for a drink and you shall forfeit any future attempts to challenge me."

What? Wait, that was internalised. "What?!" Was Lance seriously staking a date with me on a match with my apparent 'girlfriend?'. "Why do you want to go on a date with me?"

The smugness was back. "Who said anything about it being a date? Are you not satisfied with your current relationship that you would seek out little old me at the smallest opportunity. Are you not happy with your current girlfriend?"

Misty, who was getting steadily angrier since the stakes were set had finally reached a point where she gripped my hand so tightly that I couldn't help but wince at the pressure, not to mention that my hand was still recovering from hitting the present company. Lance, who caught the action looked on in a minute second of what I believe was sympathy or concern before continuing on.

"Let us move to the pokemon pool. Since the stakes are set, our reward must be segregated from the two of us by an impartial audience member. Is there anyone in the audience that would mind the fair maiden? Anyone at... what?" Out of nowhere, the dratini snuggled up to Lance woke up and floated over to me. With a flick of its tail, it whipped Misty's arm and shocked her out of holding me, before proceeding to rest its head and body around my neck and going back to sleep. As shocked as Misty and I were, since I just had a rare dragon inhabit my shoulders, and she just got smacked by said dragon, no one was quite as shocked as Lance appeared. I give him a confused look trying to convey a message of 'is this ok', and he collects himself and states more to himself than anyone in the audience, "Never in his short life has he given such trust to anybody but myself. No dragons are ever trusting of someone who isn't their master or family." He pointedly tells me, "You're a very privileged individual Ethan Williams, the dragon gods smile upon you. He will look after you while we have our match."

Suddenly, the baiting man is gone, and someone serious and assessing takes his place. As overloaded as I was in this situation, his last words rang in my ear. Why would a dragon choose me? I'm not worthy of such an honour as he proclaims, but would a dragon really make a mistake such as that? As if sensing my perturbance, the dratini mewls in my ear, and the sound is enough for me to forget my worries and smile softly at the creature. On the plus side, at least this dratini was lighter than Princess, and fit snugly around my body.

With the inner- turmoil over, the entire crowd moved over to the pokemon pool. At Lance's command, the staff opened up the roof for more room. Why he thought they would need room was beyond me, but he was the professional here. Misty, who had grabbed one of the balls from her bag, stated that she was ready to go, and with a nod to the referee on staff, the referee began to officiate the match.

"This battle will be a one on one match between Lance Wataru of the Elite 4, and Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City. The match will end when a pokemon on either side is unable to battle, or the trainer forfeits. There are no substitutions. Let the match begin!"

Without a second of hesitation, Lance through one of the balls from his bag, and out came a large majestic seahorse, the likes I had only ever heard about. A kingdra. From my studies, I could easily recognise that the monster was easily an extra 20cm taller than the average specimen, and I'm fairly sure that the antennae on it's head were significantly bigger to represent its status among its brethren.

Almost lost in the beauty of such a pokemon, I almost missed the fact that Misty had sent out a towering gyarados. It looked as vicous as all the news stories made them out to be, but this one seemed to be a little smaller than the average gyarados, a fact that Lance quickly confirmed. "You're truly challenging me to a match against a pokemon I've also raised? Even more insult is the fact that this gyarados is only recently evolved. I wouldn't expect it to even have a true grip on its thrash attack yet. It seems you tried to intimidate the wrong person Ms Waterflower". Red at being caught out by the man, she ordered the beast to use a tackle attack. Much like the previous match I watched with Lance's charizard, he didn't even bother to give his kingdra any orders, like the whole match was very much beneath them, and by the way the kingdra's bubble attack did significant damage? It truly was beneath them. Bubble, renown for being one of the weakest water attacks known just caused an overgrown water serpent to recoil in agony.

Misty, not one to be easily discouraged, sent gyarados to do yet another tackle, but this time the only difference was that instead of a bubble attack, the kingdra sent out a full water gun attack, the likes of which hammered the gyarados against the wall. Barely hanging onto consciousness, the gyarados somehow withstood the attack. At this, Lance spoke up. "Ms Waterflower, it's clear that you have absolutely no chance to win this match; please forfeit and I will spare your pokemon any further pain."

Misty, who took the statement as an insult replied, "Never! Gyarados and I are going to win! I'm going to show Ethan just why we were meant to be together, and no brute is going to swoop in and take my little teddiursa away from me!" Even the crowd were starting to spare me some looks of sympathy, while Lance just got the verbal evidence he needed that we weren't together.

"Sorry dear, but he's all mine now!" With a flare of his arm, Lance's kingdra suddenly shot out a fully powered dragon pulse, which slammed into the gyardos, and the resulting explosion sent it spiraling out of the pool and crash landed in one of the viewing areas. As the referee called the match in Lance's favour, he thanked kingdra and continued on. "It was clear right from the start that he wanted nothing more than to be friends with you. It was also easy to tell from the way that he was cringing in silence and how he hasn't spoken up once from the pain you were causing him that he is either used to receiving pain from you, or he is just too kind to tell you off. Also, the fact that no self-respecting model of Ethan's caliber would date someone with goldeens on their bathing suit shows that you were never an item. Since you have lost, Ethan owes me a date, and you have lost your right to challenge me in the future. Have a lovely day Ms Waterflower". With that, he walked over to me, and I couldn't help the nerves at the unknown of the situation. "Ethan, would you do me the honor of accompanying me to get a drink at one of the nearby cafes?"

Charming, attractive and putting me completely off my game, I couldn't do anything but stutter out a "Yeah". How have I been reduced to such a mess in a short time?

Noticing my discomfort, he smirked lightly and thankfully continued on where I had failed. "Great, why don't you get changed and we'll meet at the entrance? I never actually made it to the water, so I'll just simply put my clothes on and wait for you.". As he went to head towards the exit, he added one more thing. "Oh, dratini can stay with you. Don't be afraid to tell him to move otherwise you'll never get your shirt on. Shame". With that, he exited the room.

Trying to get my thoughts and breathing straight, I bypassed the entire audience who were giving me unmasked looks of jealousy, although I think I may have heard one group of girls squeal and proclaim how cute we were together. That was honestly a bit scary. In the change rooms, I quickly asked the dratini if it was ok to head into the showers, and with nothing but a nod, I hopped in. Getting clean and changed as fast as I could in order to not leave Lance waiting, I found my way out in a little over five minutes. Dratini was surprisingly not too much of an obstacle in that regard, but I may have made it out in four if he weren't there.

Seeing Lance over by the entrance, surrounded by yet another crowd, I wandered over a little shyly, not quite sure how to disrupt the crowd without being rude. I thought I may have been able to sneak out without him, but cursed that that was probably the whole reason he left dratini with me; the damn thing was insurance so I didn't skip out. Noticing both my presence, and my issue of breaching the crowds, he parted the sea with a mere "I need to leave, but it was nice meeting you all", and stood in front of me.

"I'm surprised you didn't run off on me, but that was the whole reason I left dratini with you". That smirk was back.

'I almost ran off with him, he is such a beautiful pokemon after all". With a soft smile on my face, I stroked the pokemon around my neck, which illicited a soft mewl. Looking up, I noticed that Lance's smirk has softened off, and had almost reached the other side of his lips now. It seemed that the man had a soft spot for his dragons.

"Shall we head off then? We can go somewhere nearby if you'd like. Do you know of anyplace nearby?" With a nod, I tell him about a place right around the corner, and lead the way. A couple minutes of walking later and we reach the cafe. After being led to a booth in the back, since the staff knew I didn't like to be bothered, doubly so since I was with an Elite member, we sat down and Lance put his serious face back on.

"I apologise for all that fiasco back there, but I could see that you were struggling with her, and I also couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk with you and clear the bad blood from last weekend".

Understanding where he was coming from, but also a little disappointed that the man wasn't actually interested in a date, I responded. "Thank you for that, she is someone I've known for several years, but she just doesn't seem to realise that I'm not interested in her. I've done everything other than blatantly say to her that she doesn't have the parts for me to be interested in her, but it just hasn't worked'. It truly was frustrating how persistent she was.

"So you really were interested in the idea of a date with me then? I couldn't quite tell if it was an act to get her away from you or not. Being a model naturally meant that you had some level of acting ability after all". Shit, that did just come out as a confession of interest didn't it? "But I guess you are more the 'wear your heart on your sleeve' kind of person after protecting your eevee". Oh right, the other side of the conversation. It's been weighing heavily on me anyway, so may as well get it all out.

"I truly am sorry for what happened. I just got so emotional seeing her hurt in such a way, and your comment made me lose all reason. I'm so, so sorry for hitting you!" Looking down at the table, almost with tears in my eyes at my own embarrassment, I heard a chuckle. Throwing my head up to look at him in confusion, he spoke.

"Here I was trying to apologise to you, and here you are not even letting me get a chance. Ethan, make no mistake about it, I was the one at fault in the situation. I was the one who didn't give the battle enough room. I was the one who didn't stop the match when I could tell charizard was about to up his power. I was the one that insulted both you and your eevee when she was hurt. You shouldn't be sorry; in fact, you should be the one angry at me. Let me repeat. You did nothing wrong". The intensity in his eyes and voice almost convince me.

"But I hit you! I threw a punch, and not only that, but I did it against someone of political power, and someone who had no intention of taking the matter into the physical realm!"

He didn't lose his strength in the matter. "Ethan, it was clear that you had never thrown a punch in your life. I'm quite certain that you hurt yourself in the process more than you hurt me, in fact, the dratini around your shoulders has hurt me more when he's been hungry. You seem like a kind soul who under natural circumstances wouldn't hurt another living being. It was clear in the way you treated your eevee, and even the way in which you treated Ms Waterflower. You mustn't take the burden of the accident. I goaded you while you were under immense emotional pressure, I'm the only one to blame. Just me, and me alone". His words finally start to resonate and I deflate. "I see you're finally listening to reason, so let me continue on. Watching the video back truly showed me how badly I acted. Not just as an Elite 4 member, but as a clan heir, and most importantly, as a human. I shouldn't have assumed that your eevee was a battler, and knowing you now, it's clear to me that you aren't a battler either.'

Knowing that he was right, and not needing to see any more of his pride be squashed for my sake, I stop him there. "Lance, your words truly hurt, but I've already forgiven them. The hate and anger is pointless, and they were only an avenue for my sorrow to travel through. You don't need to apologise for your judgement errors either. You assumed based on your knowledge of the world, so if it was anyone else, you probably would have been correct. It's better to leave this in the past, and try to simply become better, well rounded people".

His smile was back. "You truly are too bright of a spark for this world. A beautiful soul that is uncorrupted by the darkness that taints the average person. I see now why dratini decided to trust you". Blushing a bit at the undeserved praise, I asked him to clarify what he meant. "Dragons, as I said back at the pool, only trust their masters, or their family. In order to train a dragon, you must show that you are both virtuous and strong, striding ever towards justice in this world. While I'm not sure you quite fall under the category of strong, since you aren't a trainer, you've definitely proved to have a virtuous soul, and that is the reason why dratini is drawn to you. I wouldn't honestly be surprised if half my team suddenly decided to adopt you and whisk you away from harm."

This was all really too much. "I don't know why you keep claiming I'm someone special. I'm just a guy who's trying to move through life one day at a time." That was it. Point blank.

"Then tell me this. Your hand that you punched me with, that was the same hand that Ms. Waterflower was crushing, wasn't it?" With a nod, he continued. "And instead of tell her that you were being hurt, you chose to keep quiet, because you felt that she was doing something that was important for her, and if you had of ripped your hand away, you knew it would only hurt her?" A more hesitant nod this time. "My point, a normal person cares about self-preservation, while you went through what was probably agonising pain to keep someone, who you don't like very much, happy". When he said it like that, it almost made me look like a saint. I went to argue the point, but he held out his hand to stop me. "Look, Ethan. You don't have to believe it. Just know that a mythical beast has decided that you are worth-while, and if this experience teaches you anything, I hope that you start to think that too."

We got our food, and I spent the entire meal replaying events over, and trying to find the flaws in Lance's statements. As time went on though, I found that the incidents where I thought I was the scum of the earth, had been very minor situations where I had put myself first, like that time I cut in line at the supermarket. I still can't believe I did that; I'm sure it destroyed that women's whole day. Starting to find myself in turmoil over the situation, I feel a hand on mine. I look up startled to find Lance with a look of concern in his eyes. "Care to tell me what you're struggling over?" The genuine look on his face makes me decide to share my thoughts.

"I was going over reasons why you'd be wrong about me being considered virtuous, and I remember this one incident from when I was 15. Mum and I went to the grocery shops, and I had such a long day that when it came time to head to the register, there was one lady about to go into the line, but I cut in just so I could get out of there faster. I'm sure that destroyed her day. I'm also sure that she would have been furious at the situation".

At the sound of muffled laughter, I look up at Lance who was barely restraining himself. Finally giving up, he released a full belly laugh that had some of the nearby booths looking over in confusion. A little insulted that he would laugh, I ask him: "What's so funny?"

When he calmed down his laughter enough to talk, he replied, "That's what got you so down?" A stiff nod in response. "You don't realise what a gem you are, do you? People steal, bribe and hurt others with a clear conscience, but you cut in front of a lady, and you deem yourself a horrible person? There can be no doubting now why the dragons accept you, and know that I don't think I'm too keen to let you go either." Such a blatant statement of claim, and I'm back to red. "Have you ever thought about coming to Blackthorn and working with the dragons there? Really though, what are your future intentions? Surely you have some intention of getting your license and following your father's footsteps?" He didn't seem to be asking to force the conversation, so I decided to answer honestly.

"I thinking I want to go into pokemon research; I've been studying up the pokemon in the Kanto-Johto bistate, and I think I've reached a stage where I could be employed in the research institutes. The problem is that I'm physically not allowed to get my license. My dad, being a gym leader, used the Fuma law to prevent me from going into the wilderness and getting hurt, so I'm stuck being a model until I guess the time when either of us dies really.'

Surprised by the information, Lance replied, "You haven't heard from him since Sunday? I thought he would have told you straight away."

"What would he have needed to tell me? We spoke on Saturday after the accident, but that's it."

"After the video went viral, he called the plateau on Sunday to yell at me through a conference with the entire league". Eyes wide with shock, I let him continue. "I won't get into the details of the call, but in the end, we learnt about how he used the Fuma Law against you, and afterwards, Agatha set out Koga and Lorelai to change the wording of the law so it was less ambiguous, and limited to the age of 18. Norman knows this, and it's clear to me now that he was going to act like nothing had ever happened in the hopes that you didn't catch on." The seriousness on his face only adding to the dramatic statement.

"You mean, I'll be able to go for my license in the near future?" I said slowly, not daring to get my hopes up just yet.

"Within the next couple weeks, you should be free of such a thing. In a way, our meeting on Saturday was a blessing, since without it, the Elite 4 would never have known about your circumstances."

Screw it, I'm just going to get those hopes up. "You really mean it? I'm finally going to be able to stop modelling and see the world? I'm finally going to be able to help Princess evolve? I'm finally going to be able to help countless pokemon I come across? Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I'm happy to have been able to help you, but you'll need to thank Lorelai most of all: she was the one who caught your dad out. Speaking of which, you didn't seem shocked about his call?"

"I'll need to get her a gift, what does she enjoy? And no; I knew right from the start after Lyra told me about the video that he would be coming for you. It was easy to see that I didn't put myself purposely into harms way, so he would attack what did. I'm sorry about him by the way, he's just had a couple close calls with me when I was younger, so he's a little protective."

Lance just sighs. "There you go again with protecting those who have done you wrong. Might I ask what could possibly have happened to make him into that? The man damn near chose a war between nations for you." Not quite understanding what that meant, I regailed Lance about the story of when I was a child, and barely survived the meeting with the ariados.

"Ok, I see what he means now, you're probably going to need bubble wrap out in the field." He looked mostly like he was joking, but there was a hint of something a little more protective in there as well.

"Hey! I know better now, so I wouldn't wander into a pokemon's nest, especially when I know they have status invoking powders". And I meant it too, through my studies, I knew just how much damage they could do to the human anatomy. While we may often be in control of the pokemon, we were frail in comparison.

"I guess. Moving back to the point at hand though, you should be contacted in the near future by Agatha, and you'll be a free man from there". He stood up and continued. "While I've enjoyed this time with you more than I thought I would, I need to head off. The concept of a date was only meant to be a joke to spur on Ms Waterflower, but I think I'd like to get your number, and we could try this again for real if you felt the same?" He seemed a touch unsure about that last part.

"I'd like that. I wasn't entirely comfortable with the whole thing as it played out, but it seems like fate was just playing with us, and I enjoyed spending time with you as well!" Honestly, the only person I felt this relaxed around was Lyra, and I'd known her for years.

"Excellent! If we exchange numbers, and we can organise something for a couple weeks. I'd like to do it sooner, but I'm actually in Goldenrod on official League business, so I'm not sure what my schedule will be like for a while".

Dissappointed slightly about that, we exchanged numbers, and he left the cafe after paying. Once I went up to pay as well, the cashier made me realise that he had pulled a sneaky on me and payed for my meal as well. Chuckling slightly, but vowing to pay him back, I left to head back home, but called up Lyra for the trip.

"Hi Ethan, what's up?"

Thanking her internally for answering on the first try, I responded. "You'll never guess how my day has turned out..."

Thursday

Internet gossip magazine- The Daily Chatot 

In surprising news, the drama between Lance Wataru of the Elite 4 and international model Ethan Williams has seen a second act. Readers will remember that the two had an altercation last Saturday that resulted in Williams hitting Wataru. While the event went viral after videos were leaked, Williams' PR representative explained that Williams was mortified at his own actions, and only did so during extreme emotional duress. Agatha Oak, the champion of the bistate also stated that the blame should fall solely onto Wataru, and not Williams.

This event would have been completely swept under the rug, but it seems that the drama is only growing. Yesterday at the Goldenrod Upper-class Water Pavilion, the two met again. This time however, the gossip just got juicier. Misty Waterflower, with Williams in tow confronted Wataru and challenged him to an official match in order to avenge her 'boyfriend's honor'. That's right readers, Misty Waterflower and Ethan Williams are supposedly dating!

But it goes further than that. The stakes that were agreed on was that Williams' pride will be restored on Waterflower's victory, or Williams was to go out for 'a drink' with Wataru after he won.

This is it readers: Williams is caught in a love triangle between Waterflower and Wataru. And if you need further clarification of why this is big news: international model Ethan Williams has been shown to be bisexual, and one of the strongest trainers in the bi-state, and all around dragon type prodigy, Lance Wataru, has expressed that he is gay!

For those thinking that the prospect of 'a drink' was through the two just being friendly, let us correct you. The two were seen after Wataru's inevitable victory having lunch together and holding hands, not to mention that Williams spent the entire day with one of Wataru's famed dragons draped over his neck. If that isn't enough evidence, then we need to find our self a new profession.

Readers, we leave this article with a lot of questions: Is this the end of Williams and Waterflower's sudden relationship? Will a prestigious clan such as the Wataru's accept that their heir isn't straight? What truly happened on that date to have such a quick turn around from enemies to lovers between the two men?

We don't know, but we will find out.

Signing off, The Daily Chatot

Friday

Goldenrod City- Eastern suburbs

Lance's POV

It was finally time to regroup with the other members of the task-force assigned to the gang case. I'd been hearing their reports as they came through, but it was always necessary to meet in person so everyone was on the same page, and just in case someone forgot to mention a point that turned out to be vital.

With everyone present and accounted for, I decided to get this over with. "Thank you for all coming in. This is mostly just a routine meeting, but I also need to fill you in on what I've achieved over the last few days".

"You mean catching criminals, or catching STI's?" Everyone started laughing while Sam preened under the attention. Damn peacock that one. Not particularly thrilled at the implication towards either Ethan or myself, I turn back to him.

"If by STI you mean Sam's torn insides, then I'm sure my dragonite would be happy to give you a lesson in it". That shut him up. I lift out my temporary phone. "Now back to the matter at hand. During the week, I managed to find my way to a rocket operative and convince him that I was going to be a valid candidate to join. I received a message today to meet up with him for an initiation ceremony, so I should be within the ranks of team rocket by the end of the day".

Shocked by the prospect of me already managing to do two weeks work in a few days, they tried to get a bearing of what I just said. Finally, Trina responded. "Damn, why do you even have us? You'll just single-handedly destroy the organisation. I could be training my team instead of living in a hole!" That got nods from Sam and Aaron who were out there in even worse conditions than Trina was.

"You're all here as my back-ups. Don't be angry, I've just been doing this longer than you all have. Also, while we were fairly sure that Team Rocket was in the area, Will, you also heard an interesting rumor". Turning to him, I gesture for him to explain.

"Yes, yes! I was out on the streets chatting with some of the new fam; that's what we call our friends in the hood, when I came across a most interesting conversation. I didn't hear much before I needed to keep moving, but it seems like there is a second gang down here in the hood. You can recognise them based on their red clothing, but they work a lot more discreetly than the rockets do. I do believe it was a Team Mareep or something!"

Cringing at his explanation, but knowing that the only difference between our characters was that I actually knew how to not be a nerdy psychic with an abnormally high IQ and an affinity for empathy. Looking around, I can see that the others are also trying to ignore the second hand embarrassment from the flamboyant psychic.

"I may have the rocket situation under control, but with this new information, I believe that it would be prudent for the four of you to switch targets over to this seperate team. I will still be able to back you up under pressure, and I will still call on you for regular meetings, or if I need a hand dismantling any operations. Sam and Aaron, I know living in the slums is hard, but I need you to stay there and move around to a different area of it now and then. If you can, start to draw a little bit of attention to yourselves in order to attract their attention, but not so much that you become targeted by those looking to move up in the world. I think it would also help to gain a pokemon each for protection and for the attention. Sam, since you're a flying type trainer, I'd like you to get yourself a zubat, and Aaron, a pidgey or ratata would suit your normal typing well". With nods of acceptance, I know I can rely on the two of them to get their jobs done. "Will and Trina, you keep doing what you're doing. Find the gossip out, and start to spend a bit of time in more populated parks and shopping districts. You're both capable of gossiping with other people, so use them to your advantage". With that, I think I had covered everything.

"Did you still want to hear our reports?" Oh, that was a good point. Holidaying had made me lazy.

"I've heard it all, but it wouldn't hurt for you to go over the information together. Put any information that was ambiguously gang related into a separate report so that we might have a lead to go off of. Unfortunately, I'll need to leave you in order to make it to the initiation. Good luck, and look after yourselves. Don't take unnecessary risks." With that, I turn to exit the meeting spot. I wish I still had my regular attire on, because turning dramatically without a cape just doesn't make an exit as fun.

I look at my phone, even though I have the message memorised, one last time. -Meet me where you first met me at 3:20pm, or you'll regret meeting me in the future. B-. The guy really didn't know who he was messing with, but that suited me just fine.

I backtrack the streets I took last time, and eventually find what I was looking for. The guys around the street would have been subtle if you weren't me, but that was the beauty of not being mediocre. I approach the spot and knock on the door. After several seconds, the door opened to reveal the one and only Billy. "For an overgrown brute, you're surprisingly quick on the uptake. The initiation starts at 4, and we got ground to cover". Nodding, and deciding that the route of 'overgrown brute' was probably the better one to decide, I stayed silent and puffed my chest while following.

We twisted and turned through the streets, and finally reached an out of the way carpark. It was clear that there was some sort of fiasco going on since the crowd was growing by the minute. "Yo, this is how it'll go down. You shut the fuck up, and when I give the order, you step forward. You'll go through the initiation test, and you better pass; I ain't putting some pussy footed bitch in for my quadrant, it'll make me look bad". Nodding along, and expecting nothing less of these scum I wait patiently.

There was no grand speech to dictate when the event had started, only the call of 'Quadrant One', and the first person moved forward. Internally, it helped to familiarise myself with what I was calling 'quadrant captains'. The more I knew about who was running these gangs, the easier it would be to take down. Over the next hour or so, many attendants had been called up, but I was still remaining in the crowd. Finally, I hear 'Quadrant 19' and Billy spoke "About fucking time. Come".

With that, he moved quickly through the now rather dispersed crowd and we disappeared from sight. As we arrive at our destination, which was simply an empty room with nothing but several grunts and a person with a bag over their head, Billy left me to stand to the side.

"Recruit from Quadrant 19, to pass the initiation, all you have to do is prove to us that you have what it takes to make it in this world. Before us is another one of the rats that populate these streets. Eliminate them". With that, he took off the bag to reveal a ratty bearded man. It was clear that he was homeless, and likely had been for most of his life. Unhappy with the task, but ready to do so from the start, I send out koffing. The fact that I don't just have a basic ratata causes some of the recruiters to raise their eyebrows in appraisal.

While they had specified what the task was, it didn't mean that I had to make it gore-y. In a clear voice I command, "Koffing, place one of your holes into the man's mouth and use poison gas". Unflinchingly, the koffing fulfilled it's task and let the man inhale nothing but the noxious fumes of a poison pokemon. Within 10 seconds, the man was dead, but I'm sure it only would have taken four seconds at max. This was one of the tricks Koga taught me before I left the Plateau since he knew it might be necessary to know.

"Damn, that was brutal. This guy is hard-core." I look into the eyes of the recruiters unflinchingly, trying to unnoticeably raise my chest up and flex slightly to give me a bit more intimidation. It worked. "You pass. Billy, where'd you find this guy? He'll be raising up through the ranks in no time!" Wow, I guess it all worked just a bit too well. Guess it was going to be hard to stay under the radar with so much talent in such a rag tag bunch of degenerates.

"Found him through the market. He almost begged me to help him battle that ho Whitney. I knew though that he was destined for better things than that though, so I lead the kid here instead. I'll have you know that I actually taught him how to do that trick he pulled. Arbok and I have been doin it for years now!"

While I didn't like someone taking credit for a friend's work, it could be a blessing for me if they thought that I didn't originate the technique. "Well you've done a fine job train'n him. Bit of a brick though. Could be good for manual grunt work". The leader of the posse turned to me. "From this moment on, you're a grunt of Team Rocket, the best criminal organisation in the whole bi-state. You'll be called regularly to handle missions and tasks to which there is no failure. You fail here, and you wind up dead like the guy you just killed. Understood?" I nod in response. "Good. Billy will be in touch with you over the next week to get you ready, now get lost grunt.' Taking it as a pretty clear dismissal, Billy and I leave after recalling koffing.

"Yo, those were some pretty hard-core moves back there. You made me look damn good, and that'll raise my street cred. I'll get in touch with you next week to get your outfit sorted. Now, I got hoes to deal with. Later, grunt!". With that, Billy took off. Finding that there was nothing else to gain today, I headed back to the complex 'Cain' was staying at before teleporting back to where I belonged. Now that it was all over for the week, I had a few days to relax. Perhaps I should get back to Ethan about that date? No, there was a reason I was waiting. I'd see him again after Agatha had given him his license.

Maybe I'll just go train for a couple days, that was always fun. Dratini also needed to get a start on his training; no point being a mythical creature if all you're going to do is sleep all the time. Child or not, he was getting a workout this week.

Saturday

Ethan's home

After such a chaotic week, I was happy to finally be able to have a full day off and spend some time with Princess. Dealing with the accident last Saturday had only been the beginning of a tumultuous week. The fallout in the public's eye had been the biggest issue since it almost cost me some of my biggest contracts, but thankfully, I only initially lost four of my smaller job offers before Stella had been able to minimise the damage for me. Of those four jobs, between her and Leo, two of them had a change of heart and reoffered the job to me. I truly was thankful that they were so good at their jobs.

I thought that would have been the end of the drama, but in a shock twist, Lance caused even more drama and pressure to be applied to my life. The tabloids were having a field day with my apparent love triangle, even though I'm not with either one of them. I know which one I'd rather be with, but that means absolutely nothing in the long run. The worst part abou the situation is that now Misty is on my back double-time! The whole region now thinks that I chose Lance over her, but she still thinks that we're an item. The daily phone calls were beginning to truly bug me.

Thankfully, not everything had been going badly since meeting Lance. Everything was askew, but not bad. It had been televised yesterday that what Lance had told me about Fuma's Law being amended was correct. Now, in the near future, I'd be free to go for my pokemon license regardless of what my dad thought since I was well passed my 18th birthday. I still didn't quite know what to do with my life now that freedom had so callously been thrown at me, but I was spending every waking moment considering the endless possibilities.

I'd come to the conclusion, that I was most likely going to give up modelling, if only temporarily to chase my dreams, but that didn't actually take me very far in my mind. I was considering still leaving some of my biggest contracts in place though, since it never hurt to keep my foot in the door in case being a trainer didn't end up working for me.

The biggest concern I had with the situation is that my dad still hadn't made contact with me. I felt a bit shafted by him since it truly was clear that he was doing what he could to hide the new changes, especially since he has known for almost a week about them. The other problem this raised was what would happen to Princess. She was still regarded as the pokemon of Norman Williams on all the systems, so will becoming a trainer mean I'll have to part from her, and she'll be sent back to mum and dad in Hoenn? It truly was the one thing that was holding my mind back from moving forward with my plans.

The only other concern I had was what Lance said. While there were many things in that conversation I couldn't wrap my mind around, specifically the claim that I'm virtuous enough for dragons to trust me. The one thing he said that left me confused was his statement that the champion of the bistate was going to get in contact with me. Why in the world would a woman as renown as Agatha Oak go out of her way to speak to me, and me alone? It made no sense in my little mind.

In the end though, I had to put it all to the side. Before I could become a trainer, I had a golden opportunity in the modelling world. A going out party if you must. I'd be leaving for Ecruteak in less than a week now, and I couldn't be more excited at the prospect. Princess too would be going, and it would do her a world of good to see the famed eevee-lutions that the Kimono Girls were famous for.

Every clan had a certain pokemon that it idolised and put on a pedestal. The Kimono Girls of the Suzuki Clan were just as famous for their use of their eevees as Lance and the Wataru clan were famous for their use of dratinis. Some clans chose to worship a type instead, but popularity of a pokemon still ran prevalent in those situations. An example of this being the Fuma Clan from Fuschia. They were well known ninjas famous for their poison types, but crobats and weezings were significantly more popular than other poison types.

As I continue to think about what had been happening recently, I hear my pokenav ring. Groaning at having to deal with another of Misty's calls, especially on my day off, I get up to answer it. I could have just ignored it, but I truly was too nice for my own good. Just because she was presumptuous and clingy, didn't mean that she should be left feeling isolated and rejected.

Looking down at the screen, I look down pleasantly surprised that it isn't Misty calling, but Lyra. Answering it with a lot less apprehension I spoke, "Hi Lyra, what's up?"

She looked rather excited, so something must have happened. "I'll tell you what's up, the greatest person you know in the world just pulled through for you! After seeing that Fuma's Law was changed, and that you were likely to have your trainer license in the near future, my grandparents were far more keen to take you in as an apprentice."

Shocked at the sudden declaration, it took me a second to take in. "Are you saying that not only will they let me work for them, but that the offer for an apprenticeship is there as well?"

It was definitely a sharp contrast to where the couple had placed him just several days before. When I called up Lyra to tell her about the 'date' with Lance, she let me know that she was struggling to convince her grandparents to let me work for them. No amount of knowledge could persuade them that letting an unlicensed, and thus illegal, worker into their business was a good idea. Now that that blockade had been removed, so had their reservations apparently.

"Yes! It's shocking isn't it? They really have enjoyed you from the few times that they've met you back in New Bark, and they believe that you will eventually be able to handle both their jobs with some aids to make your life a bit easier."

"You mean to say that they think I'll be good at both training pokemon, and breeding them as well? You know I don't think I'll be good with the baby pokemon, we've covered this." This better not go into another damn virtuous speech.

"I don't think you've noticed this Ethan, but pokemon seem to gravitate towards you. Bob doesn't get along with many people, but she trusts you as much as myself. Don't start on the whole 'She's known me my whole life' spiel, she doesn't even like my parents that much. You and my grandparents are the only ones she'll let her guard down for". Damn, this was still heading in the same direction as Lance took. I still don't see it myself though.

"We'll see. Please don't expect too much from me though, I don't think I'll live up to all of your expectations. I'm also not sure where I want to take my life after getting my license, so I can't promise anything. Even if I just spent one or two days a week with your parents though, it would be amazing first hand guidance at raising and caring for pokemon."

She was giving me the 'you're a fool look again'. "You truly don't give yourself enough credit, but I think that's just a result of your dad making you feel like you are unworthy of being a trainer. Don't deny it, I can see the damage his actions have done to you, even if they were unintentional.

I'll tell you what. Bob is bound to go into breeding season within a few weeks. I'll see if she will allow you to raise up her baby from when the egg is laid. Of course you'll have to deal with her fussing over everything while she supervises, but I think that will be a good way to build your confidence up. My grandparents will also be there to help you out."

With a sigh, I know that I can't get out of this, but I know that she is only doing it because she cares. "Thanks Lyra, I'll do what I can, and I won't break Bob's trust in me. I'll get back to you once I'm cleared to take my test. At this stage, please tell your grandparents that I'm humbled by their offer, but I'm not sure if I'd be willing to learn from them full time."

From there, we continue to talk about what we've been up to over the last few days, and I hang up feeling just a bit lighter than when she first rang up. I'm so glad that she was up here in Goldenrod for a while, but unfortunately, she'd still have to move back to New Bark after a while. Guess I'd just appreciate her presence for as long as I could.

As I get ready to take Princess down to the park, I hear my pokenav ring again. Seeing that the ID showed Misty Waterflower, I groaned and resigned myself to this fate.

Mr Pokemon segment

'Welcome back one and all to another session of The Pokedex Show, with Mr Pokemon. Today we'll be continuing our journey through not only the Kanto pokedex, but through the vulpix evolutionary line. For those new to the show, in this weekly series, we discuss aspect of a pokemon including physical characteristics, habitats, abilities and first hand experiences you, the viewers, have had with such a pokemon.

In today's session, we'll be discussing pokedex entry number 38: Ninetales. Following on from last week's segment on vulpix, Ninetales is one of Kanto's resident fire type pokemon, and a beloved member on many trainers teams, as well as appreciated by many cultures as a dangerous and vain spirit.

Physically, a vulpix will undergo several changes upon its evolution. Of particular note, it gains a yellow colouring instead of its naturally red fur, and it also gains another three tails, totally nine and giving a ninetails it's namesake. A vulpix upon evolution will also double in size, growing from an average of 0.6m to 1.1m. Finally, the crest on their head will change from a vulpix's famed curls, to a wild mane of fur on ninetales. It is thought that the skin colouring on a ninetales will continue to pale as it increases in strength to signify the heat of their flames.

There are many rumours and speculations based upon this pokemon. One of the tamest is that they will live for up to 1000 years, and it is thought that those that reach over 700 years are the ones with the palest of fur. The otherside to this rumour is that if you touch one of a ninetales' tails, you will be cursed for a thousand years, bringing you nothing but misery and ruin. Both of these combined are what gives ninetails the title of 'the millennium' pokemon. The only other rumour, and by far the least factual one, is that the first ninetails was created through nine power wizards deciding to merge together. This myth is particularly prevalent in the Celadon region.

Ninetales, unlike their pre-evolution, are not commonly found in the wild. Due to the need of a fire stone to kick start the genetic modification, it is extremely rare to find a ninetails that wasn't once owned by a trainer. Those that are seperated from their trainers, through death, abandonment, or any other reason, they typically seek out harsher environments where they won't be disturbed. There are reports from the scientists who brave Mt. Silver that there are tracks from at least one wild ninetales. The exception to this rule is when they are looking to breed. At that point, they are found to gather in sunnier inland areas. Once they mate and their eggs hatch, they often leave their young behind, and head back to exclusion.

As far as natural abilities go, ninetales will not gain any new abilities upon evolution. It will have both the ability to absorb other fire based attacks, or when threatened, they will produce the effects of a sunny day, causing the clouds to disperse. It is said that the species developed this secondary ability due to their vanity, and not wishing for their fur to be anything other than pristine. It also helps fend off predators that use water attacks.

As far as moves go, a ninetales follows the normal stunting that any pokemon evolved through a stone experiences. It relies on the moves it learns as a vulpix, and amps up the power of them drastically. There is, however, one move that it gains access to which its predecessor does not: nasty plot. It's thought that due to its vanity, if anything disturbs a ninetales, it becomes vengeful, and nasty plot adds to the cunning charm that they naturally possess. It is also thought that the charm that it possesses through these traits is what gives it the feared ability to take control of a human's mind, whether their trainer or not.

Through the use of tms, a ninetales gains access to a plethora of moves on evolution. Most noticeably is the ability to use more psychic based attacks like psyshock and calm mind. It is unsure of why they possess latent psychic abilities, and just why the introduction of a fire stone is capable of waking those abilities up.

Since ninetales is more so on the rare side, the listeners didn't have that many stories, however, there was one story based on Carla from Celadon. Carla stated that she was east of Celadon and witnessed the birth of an egg from a ninetales. Upon the egg leaving her body, Carla said that the ninetales had a very disgruntled look upon her face and spent the next 90 minutes making sure that every part of her body was clean and preened before raising her nine tails in the air haughtily and walked off. Carla stated that the ninetales didn't care about the egg, only because it had made her 'less beautiful' in her own eyes. Do not fret listeners. Carla ended up protecting the egg, and that vulpix became a beloved member of her team, and she is currently looking for a fire stone of her own to evolve that vulpix.

In conclusion, Ninetales is a very powerful pokemon, not just through physical strength, but through cunning and manipulation. When encountered, be sure to never touch their tails, and be mindful at all times over how much you are disturbing them. If a situation seems to be going south, get out of there immediately.


	7. Chapter 7

p class="Normal"A/N: Finally Ethan's journey as a trainer begins in this chapter. He's going to gain a few quite rapidly, and you can pretty easily tell what he's getting through game events. The title will now also start to make sense when you look at what he has./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"We also finally introduce Silver into the story, or maybe someone else entirely./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Plenty more content to come/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Enjoy Xx/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Friday/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Magnet Train Station- Goldenrod Central/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ethan's POV/span/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After a grueling week of work in order to take today off, the time had finally arrived. With Princess on my shoulder, it was time to take the train over to Ecruteak for the photo-shoot with the Suzuki Kimono Girls. Practically vibrating, even though the meeting wasn't until Sunday, I pay the fare and board the train./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The magnet train system itself was developed several years ago in order to boost the unity and access between the bistate. With the system already travelling to all major cities in Johto, the business had definitely boomed. At the moment, only central Kanto was connected to the line, with international connection between Viridian City and Blackthorn City./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The only drawback to the system is that it was designed only for the middle to upper class as the amenities they provide were first class. This meant that unless you were a particularly rich trainer starting on your journey, traveling between the cities needed to be done by foot. It was also encouraged for this to happen as it built the trust and strength of a trainer's pokemon, and also let them see the world first hand to develop their teams. For myself, I had both the money, and no pokemon to train, so I had absolutely no reason not to take the system. It also didn't hurt matters that I had full time work in Goldenrod, so I couldn't spare the multi-day trip it would take to head to and from Ecruteak./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"While we're traveling, I use the night to think about all the 'what ifs' that I'm surrounded by. These in particular focused around the Elites and their promises, or at least, Lance's promises. It had been over a week since the event at the pool, and I had yet to hear from him again. Did Lance have any interest in continuing where we left off, and was he also just trying to placate me with kind words that I would soon be a trainer? The more days that passed, the more these thoughts chipped away at my self-assurance that he wouldn't play me like that. My only counter-argument in his defense was that the Fuma Law had genuinely been changed, so he couldn't have lied about that part. I'm not sure, but I wan't to believe the best in him./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"It was better to leave these thoughts, however, as the trip was more important. Before I could get to the excitement of Sunday, I had plans for Saturday. While in Ecruteak, I had every intention of sampling the food and seeing the culture, but nothing makes a trip to Ecruteak more than a tour through the fabled Burnt Tower. From what I knew, it was a tower that used to house the legendary Ho-oh, but burnt down under mysterious circumstances. Some believe it was vandals, some thought it was a rival clan trying to discredit the Suzuki clan, but the most well believed theory is that Ho-oh believed that the tower had become impure from the greed of man, and took it upon herself to burn the tower down. It is spoken in legends that only a person of pure heart could rekindle Ho-oh's trust in man again. This legend had been passed on for the last century, and the only thing that kept the tower from being pulled down for renovations was the Suzuki clan./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After dinner was served and finished, and both Princess and I got comfortable in our cabin, I nod off to the dream world knowing that when I awake, it'll be time to disembark./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Saturday/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ecruteak 5 Star Resort/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ethan's POV/span/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After arriving at the train station in the morning, Princess and I make the decision to unload all of our belongings at the hotel. During the short trip, it became easily apparent why Ecruteak was famed for it's beauty. Cultural buildings aside; for myself, there was nothing that warmed my heart more than the trees with leaves in varying shades of yellow and red. This phenomenon was also said to tie into the legend of Ho-oh as it was said that even the trees themselves wished to express interest and gratitude for the pokemon and its protection of the town./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"This story was especially difficult to refute as the leaves didn't fall as they should when they hit that colour. Everywhere else in the world, trees worked with the seasons in order to grow, and this cycle includes losing the leaves as Autumn comes around every year. The trees in Ecruteak didn't follow this pattern, and so kept their vibrant Autumn colours throughout the year. Scientists had been trying to discover just why this occurred, but to this day, legendary intervention was the only accepted theory./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"It didn't bother me regardless; in fact, it truly felt like home. There was something about the atmosphere out here that seemed to resonate with my soul. It could just be that I had spent to many years stuck in the hustle of Goldenrod, and now that I'm in a spacious town with clean air, I could finally breathe. As I looked down at Princess through the journey, I could tell I wasn't the only one, but that could be attributed to the fact that this was where eevees thrived./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"We make it to the resort, and it's truly different from what I would have expected. It was glamorous and elegant in all the ways that Goldenrod could never be. Gone was the luxurious skyscraper with penthouse suites, and in it's place were countless manicured gardens and ponds. Checking in was much the same, since even in Goldenrod, the upper-class hotels would never treat a customer with anything less than the utmost respect. Finally, I was led through the gardens as everything was explained to me, before we arrived at a detached lodging. It was decorated in the same way that Ecruteak was famous for, and truly made it feel like I was part of the culture. While I was in awe of the whole place, I unfortunately knew that I wouldn't be spending much time here./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As 1pm hit, it was time to go out and enjoy the sites and get some lunch for the two of us before the tour started. Managing to make my way through the town while using my pokenav to navigate me to some of the popular attractions, Princess and I decide to stop at one of the most famous restaurants in town. Living up to their reputation, we left the building with a heavy stomach, but a light spirit. Finally, I know that if we stall for any longer, we'll miss the tour, so we make our way over to the Burnt Tower over in the north-west of town./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Saturday/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ecruteak north-west- Burnt Tower/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ethan's POV/span/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"We manage to make it to the Burnt Tower with 10 minutes to spare. Thankfully, there was only a group of five tourists, including myself, and the tour guide. Passing my ticket over to the guide, she stated a perky 'Thanks! Enjoy the tour!', and that was the conclusion of our interaction. Hopefully she knew what she was talking about, but I wasn't sold by her mainstream clothing. It seemed that every other worker in the city wore primarily traditional garbs./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Deciding to move over to where the other tourists were, I move to the middle of the group. As I get there, however, three members of the group turn to me and scream, "Oh my God! It's Ethan Williams!", "Ethan Williams? It can't be?!", "Can I get your autograph? I've never been so close to a celebrity before!"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Oh God! I thought I'd be able to escape this, but it haunts me no matter where I go. "Ladies, I'm truly flattered and humbled by your interest. I'd be happy to sign something for you, but please: I'm here to learn about the culture and enjoy myself". They nodded vigorously and I signed their tour guides with the pen I had on me to take notes during the tour. With that done, I move to the other side of the group next to a man with long red hair./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Hmph, if it isn't the 'famous' Ethan Williams. Come seeking attention from me now that the groupies have had enough? Celebrities; what a pathetic existence."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Ouch, that was a little harsh. What's got him riled up? "I'm sorry, but I think that's an unfair statement. You literally just saw me ask them not to bother me, and here you are assuming that all I am is someone craving attention. The least you could do is tell me your name before you insult my 'existence'."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"He finally looks at me with a sneer. "And what would be the point of telling someone so weak about myself? It's clear to me through the recent video that any of my pokemon would be able to destroy not just your eevee, but you as well. I have no time for airheads that can't do anything other than look at cameras and walk. You're nothing more than an infant with no talent."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"This guy truly had an issue with me, but I don't think it's to me directly. "I'm not sure why your acting this way, but know that I won't harbor any hate to you no matter how you act. It's clear to see that someone has hurt you to make you this way, but treating everyone else as mindless bodies to step over won't help heal your soul. You know what, I'm just going to call you Soul until I learn your real name. Soul, we're going to be good friends I think." With the friendship speech done, I can go back to focusing on nothing again./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Suddenly, I hear from the side, "Tch. If you're going to spout that useless dribble, you may as well call me Silver."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Two could play at that game. "Then perhaps you can call me Gold. That way I'll always be above you helping to pull you up into the light."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With a hmph, Silver walked off to find what I can only assume was 'less aggravating' company. Knowing that there was only three fangirls and myself in the group, that just meant he went to stand on his lonesome. Poor guy./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With that, the tour guide took charge and we began our magical journey through the Burnt Tower. Throughout the tour, the guide proved to only be book smart, which meant that I already knew all the information from my reading. Maybe I could just take her job? It was always an option. While the information was a bust, the tower itself turned out to be hauntingly beautiful. It was truly captivating how something so decrepit was still standing after a full century of destruction and decomposition. It was also intriguing to see the original decor that had survived the destruction. The statues in particular showing the legendary in all her glory. Ho-oh truly was a stunning pokemon, and it would be such an honor to meet her in person./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After a while, the tour guide told us that we now had a 45 minute window to explore the tower. I would have raised my eye-brow at this, but it seemed that all of the holes and frailty of the building had been carefully sourced and warded off. Knowing I'd likely never have the opportunity again, I took off with Princess to go explore./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"On my trip around the tower, I felt almost a tugging sensation, but it was pulling me in every direction. It was a bizarre feeling that left me wandering aimlessly and distracting me somewhat. After a while, I see a familiar face, and with nothing better to do than antagonize someone with kindness, I head over to him./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Sensing my arrival, he turned to see who had disrupted his concentration. "Hmph, it's you again. What is so important that you need to bother me? I'm sorry if the information went completely over your head, but I can't spare the time to teach you how to spell the word 'tower' for your notes."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"This guy really only had one setting: passive aggression. "Maybe I just wanted your company. I'm sure someone of your expertise would be a great conversationalist. It could never hurt after all. What are you doing all the way back here? I'm pretty sure that this is the support pillar, and the most out of the way place on the whole floor."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"He sighed dramatically. "If I tell you, would you leave me be?" I simply shrug in agreement. "I'm looking at how the support pillar is keeping such a building in place. If I learn the infrastructure of this building, I can improve my own buildings and beat the competition in the market."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"That was definitely not what I was expecting. "So you're a builder then? That's cool, you just don't look like you have the physique of a builder. I guess you don't really need it when you have pokemon though. I'm guessing one of those on your belt is a machoke or something?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Getting frustrated at my presence, he replies, "It's none of your damn business, but I own a building company in Goldenrod. Now, if you don't clear out, I'm going to set my pokemon on you, and you'll find they're a lot more dangerous than a simple machoke"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""But machoke aren't particularly simple creatures. Among the Kanto pokemon, they are seen as one of the most physically capable, especially after evolving. Not to mention that it's the only fighting type in Kanto that is useful for building. Primeape, Poliwrath and the hitmon line don't particularly have useful hands."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Reaching the end of his rope, Silver clicks one of the balls on his belt. "Golbat! Chase him away. You have permission to bite if needed, just don't kill him." A giant bat with a gaping mouth and sharp incisor teeth appears, and I only had a second to dive out of the way. "I'd run if I were you, but since I'm not you, I'll enjoy seeing you suffer instead./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I immediately turn to get out of there when a 'vii!' from Princess makes me turn my head. The golbat is diving towards me, and the only way to escape it is to jump and slam to the ground. Following the basic instincts screaming at me to do so, I hit the ground hard and hear the golbat swoop over head. I hear a chuckle from Silver, but it was soon drowned out by a rumbling coming from beneath me. Before I can make sense of the situation, the ground beneath me breaks completely, and Princess and I fall screaming to the depths below. I'm pretty sure I also heard a quiet 'serves him right' as we fell./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Landing quite heavily down below, I surveyed the damage. Somehow both Princess and I were both conscious, and nothing seemed to be broken. We would both be bruised and tender, but we were in one piece, and that was what truly mattered. It wouldn't hurt though to head to the pokemon center after just to make sure Princess was OK though./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Now to the real matter at hand. Where were we, and how do we get out of here? There wasn't much lighting, but from what I could make out, it almost seemed like I was in some sort of shrine. It didn't seem like I was still in the tower, but judging from the tiles and lack of mess, it was definitely placed here by humans. Asking Princess once more if she was ok, and receiving nothing but an affirmative from her, I decide that the only way to get to the bottom of this, or at least, to the top of this floor was to keep moving forward./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"After who knows how long trailing through the corridors, sometimes only narrowly missing hitting something, I start to see a bit of light. It also seemed like the tugging sensation that I felt before was getting more prevalent with each step I took towards the light. Something was about to happen, but I couldn't help but feel relaxed; like a sense of knowing that I was safe from the storm approaching./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I continued on, the light only continued to gain intensity until I turned a final corner and saw the source, or rather, the sources of the light. On a raised podium stood two giant dog like creatures. The one on my left was yellow, with a purple crest, not unfamiliar to that of a vulpix. It had a white body with black jagged markings over it's yellow fur. It also had two giant fangs that put Silver's golbat to shame. This pokemon was letting out a yellow light that seemed to resemble electricity./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Standing on the right side was a slightly larger brown pokemon, with the same white belly. This pokemon though had what could only be described as a mustache, and a star on its forehead. It's final distinct features were the clasps on each of its legs, and the spikes protruding from its back. This one radiated a red glow, which made me think of fire./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Both of the pokemon seemed almost expectant and patiently waited on the podium. Not sensing any danger from the two, I walk slowly towards them. As I get nearer, I notice that there is a third dog waiting in the middle at the back; almost like a leader. This one was blue with the same belly, but had a diamond on it's forehead, and two streamer like appendages. From what I could see with the lack of lighting, there was a tuft of almost hair on the pokemon's back, but I could easily be wrong./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I climb the stairs in the center of the podium and walk towards the middle where the sensation was pulling me. Standing directly between all three of the dogs, I stop and wait for fate to deal it's cards. Out of nowhere, I hear a voice inside my head as the middle dog's eyes light up. "Welcome young one. We are the Guardian Trio of Ecruteak. Upon your arrival to this tower, we felt your presence and wished to test you. Know that no harm shall come to you while you are here if you are as pure of heart as your aura states you to be. After watching your interaction with the clouded one, we believe this to be true. Before we commence the test, we ask you to remove the flexible one from your shoulder. She will be safe, being one of our creations and all, but it will affect the test if you believed she was in harm./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Without me even having to ask Princess to do so, she moved from my shoulder and watched the scene intently. It seemed that the eevee populations in Ecruteak were based upon these three dogs. It made sense as they represented fire, electric, and presumably water types, not forgetting the psychic abilities of the center one. Once she was a safe distance away, I heard the voice resume. "We will now commence."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With that being the cue for the other two dogs, all three of them threw an elemental beam at me before I could even flinch. Being bathed in obviously powerful attacks should have hurt, but it only left me feeling like someone had thrown a warm blanket over me on a winter's day. Closing my eyes in content, I just let myself drown in the feelings around me. After a while, the feeling disappeared, and I open my eyes in confusion. All around me, the room had lit up with a rainbow of lights. It was almost as if an aurora beam had been messed with to add extra colors into the mix. Reaching out to touch the lights only ended in futility, but it was still gorgeous to look at./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"In my concentration, I failed to notice the amused and contemplative looks of the dogs around me. From out of nowhere, the middle dog startled me again. "You truly are a kind and virtuous person. Know that the gods are smiling upon you, and will be there if the need arises. I'm sure our mother would also like to see you when your potential has grown. Please hop onto my back, and I shall take you back to the entrance of this establishment."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Not really knowing what they were talking about, but still latching onto the fact that I just got called a virtuous person yet again, I decide to ask who they were and what they were talking about. In response, I got minimal information, but it was still very intriguing. "We are the Legendary Guardian Trio of Ecruteak. We are to make sure no harm comes to this tower as it is the testing grounds for our mother. My name is Suicune, the one to your right is Entei, and the one to your left is Raikou. I hope that sates your curiosity young one, as that is all we can tell you./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With a nod, and the realisation that I had just been in the presence of three legendary pokemon, I jump onto Suicune's back after grabbing Princess, and she ran and leapt through the corridors and somehow we found ourself at the entrance. Thanking her for the ride, we said our fairwells and I head off, knowing that I had already missed the tour guide leaving./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I figure that I'm still in shock and not processing everything, but there would be time for that later. Let's get some dinner and go get Princess checked out at the pokemon center./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Saturday/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ecruteak Central- Pokemon Centerr/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ethan's POV/span/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Arriving at the pokemon center in town, I enter and approach the Nurse Joy at the counter. Thankfully, it seems like a slow night and Princess will be able to get checked up on almost immediately. I couldn't say for certain, but I had heard stories of how chaotic the center in Goldenrod could be. There always seemed to be a shortage of Nurses and Chansey in the area./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Hi, I'd like to check in my dad's eevee. She hasn't been in a battle, but she had quite a fall earlier, and I'd just like to make sure she hasn't hurt herself". I place Princess' ball and my ID on the counter after I finish my request./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She looks up with a smile that the Joy's were unanimously famous for. "That's not a problem! It's been quite a slow night, so I'd be more than happy to give her a check-up. You're aware that the original owner will be given a full report on the matter, correct?" I give her a nod in response. "Good! If she'd like to follow me, I'll get onto it right away. Unfortunately, I'll need to ask you to wait out here in the lobby for the duration of the check-up. If there are any emergencies, the chansey at the reception will help you." With that, both Joy and Princess disappeared through to the examination rooms./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Knowing that there was nothing to do other than wait, I went to a sitting area and made myself comfortable. I guess there was no better time than the present to wrap my head around what happened today. Firstly, it was clear that this Silver guy was someone at least somewhat dangerous. For him to blatantly order a pokemon to attack another person was not only an irrational and deranged decision, but also highly illegal. For someone who apparently owns a company, he didn't seem to have any sort of people skills, or respect for human life. The only thing that I could credit him for was the accident that happened after his attack./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"There were no words to describe the feelings I felt when I was surrounded by those three beasts, especially when I was in the midst of their test (attack?). The closest word I think could summarise my feelings was the word 'home'. It felt like I was truly where I was meant to be. At that time, at that place; I was destined to be there by the gods above. It may sound like superstitious dribble to someone else, but the words that they spoke made it not only seem true, but almost an understatement./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"From what I could understand, those three dogs were pokemon of a legendary fashion and were guardians of Ecruteak and the Burnt Tower. They were the creators of the eevee pokemon line, and they had a mother that was above them in the hierarchy. This same mother had expressed interest in meeting me once I had become older and stronger. Judging by the legends and myths of Ecruteak, there was only one pokemon that fit the criteria: Ho-oh. Would it be impossible to even put a shred of belief into the possibility that the magnificent Ho-oh herself would wish to meet me after her three children deemed me worthy? Yes, but I had already done the impossible today and met the three elemental beasts that represented the 'wrath and rebirth of nature'./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I don't wish to get ahead of myself, but this truly was turning out to be one of the best days of my life, excluding the attack on myself. The longer I stayed in this town, the more I felt like I should just pack up all my belongings and move here, but it just wasn't a feasible option. There was too much waiting for me in Goldenrod right now. Maybe in a couple years when everything has settled down./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As I'm pondering the idea, the lights start to flicker slowly off and on. Unsure what was happening, and how safe it would be for a power outage in a pokemon center, I move over to the chansey at the desk. "Is everything ok with the power? Is it safe for this to happen?" The chansey seemed a bit unsure of herself, and instead of replying, followed through where Nurse Joy and Princess had originally disappeared through./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Roughly a minute later, a slightly disgruntled Joy came out with Princess strutting behind her and approached me. "Mr Williams, your eevee was in perfect condition and is free to go. For now, I have a tech head to blast for unsafe practices in a hospital. Chansey, please go check on the cool rooms and make sure the medicine is alright". With that, she walked through a different set of doors, and deciding that it wouldn't hurt to help in case she needed it, I followed after her. Noticing I was trailing her, she spoke. "There's nothing malicious here, it's just that our pc system was undergoing an upgrade, but it seems that they've accidentally tapped into the power circuit."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Reaching one of the back rooms, I can hear a bit of fiddling in between bouts of cursing. Placing her hands on her hips, Joy went in. "Bill Regans! Just what do you think your doing?! These power outages could have caused a serious disaster. As it stands, I wouldn't be surprised if the fridges are turned off and our entire supply of antidotes has been rendered useless. What do you have to say for yourself?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The man, who happened to be tinkering with one of the PCs in the corner of the room just looked up confused. "The power circuit between this room and the fridges are different. I had my porygons make sure of that before I started. Don't worry, the medicine will all be in usable conditions". I startle as a triangular head suddenly came out of the screen. "Don't worry porygon, you just focus on the internal upgrades, I'll handle things out here."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"It seemed that this day just kept on getting more convoluted. There was only one person who upgraded the PC system in the bi-state. There was only one person that owned multiple porygon, a pokemon that was accidentally created through a glitch during the PC's creation. And there was certainly only one person who embodied all of this with the name 'Bill Regans'. I was standing before the very creator of the PC system himself, and seeing the fabled pokemon he somewhat created./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Joy, a little appeased, but not entirely, continued on. "What about the electricity in the examination rooms? I was in the middle of treating this young man's eevee when the power started to flicker. You should consider yourself lucky that this was only a minor checkup and not after a severe accident."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""That shouldn't have happened either". He turned back to the PC. "Porygons, can you please check that you haven't accidentally linked the power circuits to the examination rooms". Hearing a faint beeping noise from the computer, I gathered that they were onto the task. With that handled, Bill turned back to Joy. "I'm sorry for the trouble Joy, it shouldn't happen again after they fix it up."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""I'd hope not Mr, Regans. For now, I need to go consult my chanseys who are probably frantically checking on everything." With that, she turned and left./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Watching her leave, I hear Bill say to me: "By the god's above, it was Ethan Williams' eevee that I could have endangered. God knows Norman would have skinned me alive if such a thing happened."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Confused, I ask him. "You knew my father? I'm sorry, but I didn't think you'd be old enough to have met him."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Bill just chuckled. "I'm older than you'd think, but it was actually the better part of the decade ago that I met him. I live in Goldenrod, and after I stumbled upon porygon, I went to the local normal type gym leader in order to assess its abilities. At the time, that was your dad, and we spent a solid couple days testing out their attacks, capabilities and skills before registering it with Professor Elm in New Bark, who I believe is an acquaintance of your family."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense. So what upgrades does the PC have in store?" It was a golden opportunity to find out before everyone else, even if I don't use it./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Something pretty revolutionary! I've been chatting with an associate over in the Hoenn region, and she's developed quite a few features that make it more user friendly than the system I created. This will allow trainers to switch out their pokemon without having to talk with a second party. Let me just finish this off and I'll give you the tour"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Happy to wait, I take a seat nearby while he gets back to work. After a while of silence, he continues the conversation. "So what brings you over to Ecruteak? I wouldn't be surprised if you just wanted to show your eevee it's supposed origins."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"A little surprised that it wasn't rare knowledge that eevee's were created here, I replied. "We're actually here for a photo-shoot with the Suzuki Kimono Girls tomorrow. After they saw the video between Lance and myself a week back, they took interest in the bond Princess here, and I share. At least, that's what my manager told me."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Wow, that's definitely an honor. The Suzuki clan doesn't interact much with the outside world, let alone just any stranger with an eevee. I would have actually assumed they'd be less interested in you since you own an eevee that isn't one of theirs. I know that they dislike the fact that at one stage I tried to pry into their evolutionary line". I ask him to continue. "Despite me being famous for porygons, my favorite pokemon is eevee and their evolutions. I asked the Suzuki clan if I could study some of them, but was forcefully knocked back". He pouted at that, but didn't seem too put out about it./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""If you'd like, I could always try and see if they'd be open to letting you into the photo-shoot tomorrow? I'm assuming that it will include the renown pokemon that the Kimono Girls are famous for"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"His eyes sparkle like a kid getting a visit from a delibird. "You'd actually try? You only just met me, how do you know I wouldn't harm the situation?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""I don't, but it's clearly a dream of yours, and if it's in my power to help that dream become a reality, who am I to stop it? I can't make promises, I can only ask"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""That's more than I could have hoped for! But for now, let's give you that tour I promised. Porygons, if you'd like to come out for me". The two geometric pokemon morph out from the computer's screen. It truly was amazing at just how versatile the world of pokemon could be sometimes. "Now, I'll log in to my account that I've got set-up. This will be a lengthy process when first completed as it needs to be verified by your resident professor or care-taker. Once I've logged in, it will ask me to place a verification code in that was sent to my pokenav. All this is due to the fact that there is a large chance that someone could easily find out or hack into another person's account and steal their details and pokemon. It would be disastrous if an Elite had their pokemon stolen by the common criminal./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"From here, all pokeballs under the ownership of that trainer at the stored location will appear, and just what pokemon they contain. It will also mention those that are currently not considered to be within the location. That list is naturally what pokemon you have on your person. Like normal, you can only have a maximum of six in your party, so all you need to do if you already have six is to place the ball under the reader and send it to your assigned storage area. Now that you have a spare slot, you can simply choose which pokemon you want, and it will be sent to your location."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With a physical demonstration, it appeared that it certainly would take some getting used to, but it was a mind-blowing concept. No longer would a professor be stuck switching out pokemon for trainers all day, but could focus on their work instead. It also wouldn't matter what time this happened as pokemon centers are 24/7 buildings, while the professors were human and would need to sleep./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""This is amazing! It will relieve so much pressure on people and is so much more convenient than the old system. I'm guessing that you're moving from one town to another applying this?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Yes, it will take me the rest of the year to get the system in the bi-state working. I've already covered all the centers in the western part of the region, so I'd say I'm roughly a quarter of the way there. I'll be heading back to Goldenrod after this, but I'll stay a couple weeks there before I tackle the rest of the region."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Are you taking the magnet train back? I'll be on the train tomorrow night."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Actually, I'll be travelling by helicopter. There are pokemon centers in remote areas, so the magnet train doesn't cover all the areas I need to go to. If you'd like, since you're doing me a favor, you can travel back with me, but I'd need to make a quick stop half way back to do one more center before Goldenrod."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Not going to refuse a free ride in a helicopter, I accept. After that, we continue to talk for a while until I see that Princess is starting to nod off. "I guess I'd better get back to the resort, she's got a big day ahead of her tomorrow. I need to be at the Dance Hall by 11, so I'll meet you by the entrance at 10:40."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Sounds great! I'll see you then, and it was nice meeting you."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Picking up Princess, I begin the trek back to the resort and settle down for the night./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Sunday/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ecruteak Central- Kimono Girl Dance Hall/span/p  
p class="Normal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Ethan's POV/span/p  
p class="Normal"_/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Waking up in the morning, Princess and I completed our usual song and dance of getting ready. After a jittery walk over to the Dance Hall, which was thankfully fairly close to the resort, I look down at my watch and realise that it's still only 10:30, so I'm not shocked to see that Bill isn't yet here. I'm truly not sure how much use I'll be for him, but we'll shortly know./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Five minutes later, the familiar brown hair catches my sight. As he approaches, he seems to be... bouncy would be the word I'd use. I'm pretty sure he was playing down his desire for this, or he had three coffees this morning. "Good morning Ethan! Lovely day isn't it? You ready for the chance of a lifetime? I know I am. I can't believe this is happening! This is happening right? Please tell me this is happening? I wouldn't be able to stand this not happening, but I wouldn't be able to stand at all if this wasn't happening in the real world, so this can't be a dream."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Taken aback by the mess of a guy in front of me, I'm going to up my guess to six coffees. "Bill, you need to calm down, otherwise they won't let you in. If there's one thing about clans, especially the Suzuki clan, respects, it's poise and grace. Take a couple breathes and we'll give it our best shot." Hopefully the subtle hint that his behavior would be his undoing was received, and would be enough to calm the man down./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With nothing but a nod, he takes a second to compose himself, and when I believed that he was ready, I gave the cue to move. We approached the door that was manned by two guards. "Excuse me, I'm Ethan Williams and I've got an 11am appointment with the Kimono Girls for a photo-shoot"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Ah, Mr Williams. We've been expecting your visit. The Kimono Girls are awaiting your presence. It would be best not to keep them waiting for too long." One step passed./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Thank you. It is truly an honor to be given this opportunity. However, would it be possible for you to check if my friend here would be welcome to join? I would hate to leave him all alone in the area while such a privilege is bestowed upon me"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The guards gave each other a funny look and sized Bill up, before deciding that it was no skin off their back if they asked. A minute later, the guard who searched out the answer replied: "The Kimono Girls have stated that he will be allowed, however, if he is to interrupt the proceedings at any time, he shall be forcefully expelled from the premise"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Triumph! He would be able to meet the girls at the very least. I couldn't make any promises about how long he would be there though if his earlier behavior was taken into account. Making eye contact with Bill revealed that his thoughts were a pretty similar reflection of mine, so I'm guessing that he would be putting his energy under lock and key for now./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"One of the guards beckoned us to follow him, and we did as instructed. The Dance Hall, while still exquisite, did nothing to replicate the beauty that laid under the Burnt Tower. From what I remembered, this building was made around 300 years ago when the concept of praying to Ho-oh was found to be mundane. While it is still practiced today, the main form of worship now was through the art of dance. This building was the main structure of such art form./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Nowadays, this building was one of many throughout Ecruteak, but only those of noble blood within the Suzuki Clan could partake in the ceremonies that occurred here. Currently, there were only five people that fit the criteria as they were the daughters of the current head of the clan. These five were known as the Kimono Girls, and were the object of today's visit./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Making our way to a set of large doors, I realise that this was it. With Princess on my shoulder and Bill by my side, we walk through the doors after they were opened by the escort. The room itself was a room that resembled a theater; primarily a stage taking up a great deal of the front, and seating. The difference between this and a typical theater, however, was that the style was set from back a couple centuries ago with its choice of cushions for seaeting and the choice and state of the woods. There was also the numerous statues of both Ho-oh and Lugia scattered throughout the room. While it was easy to see how performances could be conducted, it was equally plausible that prayer would occur here too./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"On the main stage, there were five ladies dressed in the traditional Suzuki clan garb. All were seated, and all turned to face us as we entered. When we finally drew near, they spoke./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Good morning Ethan Williams and Bill Regans, I am Sayo Suzuki, the Suzuki clan's heiress. We would like to welcome you to our dance theater and are humbled by your acceptance of our invitation."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She was so eloquently spoken, I'd have to try not to stumble on my words, otherwise I think that would be an insult to them. "The honor is all mine. Not many are given the opportunity to meet you, so it's truly a blessing that you've given me. I'd also like to thank you for allowing my friend in. It was his dream to meet both you and the eevee line that your clan is famous for."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""You are most welcome. Now, while we arranged with your manager to have a photo-shoot, we regret to inform you that it was merely a ploy to get you to come here,". Wait, what? "You see, it was actually someone else's idea to meet you, but we also saw the promise that you showed within the video of you. The Suzuki clan welcomes anyone with a kind heart, especially if they show love towards an eevee. However, we shall leave that for later". She beckoned towards the guard that led us here. "Could you please show our other guest in"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"At this stage, I was getting a bit confused. I wasn't here for work, but merely because someone, and not even the Kimono Girls at that, wanted to see me? Who could this person be? As far as I knew, no one of importance other than the Suzuki clan lived within Ecruteak. I hear the door open again, and my questions are answered as new ones took their place./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Well, well, well! I've been waiting quite a while to meet you Mr Williams. You know, you've caused quite a bit of drama for my Elites and I". In walked in Agatha Oak, the champion of the region. Judging by her smirk, I'm guessing that my jaw just hit the floor, but really, what could one expect in such a scenario? "Ah good, I see your little budding romance with Lance didn't spoil the surprise, but he knows not to ruin my little games"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"So Lance knew about this the whole time? "No, he said that the Elites knew my situation, but he never said that someone as important as yourself would personally come and visit me!"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She just shook her head. "Tut tut. You realise that while I may be the champion of the region, Lance is second in command yes? Do you fangirl over him as well? Actually, judging by the tabloids, it's fair to say that you do. Full of rubbish, those things, but they do keep an old woman like me entertained. And all the blackmail and jokes I get out of it! It's like I'm 15 years old again." She sighed dramatically./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She did have a point, and it seemed that the more she talked, the less seriously I could take her. "I'll have you know that I would do no such thing. In fact, I'm not his fanboy, but his fistboy. Would a fanboy hit their person of affection? Plus, while he may be an amazing trainer, I've heard that you've still managed to wipe the floor with his team; 3-6 if I'm not mistaken"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Well someone's done their homework, which is good to know since you're about to have a pop-up test. Ethan Williams: today you either embark on your pokemon journey, or let both your champion and love interest down"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Woah woah woah. That was a lot of pressure, not to mention the main point: "What?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""The two week change-over of your status as a restricted citizen is over as of today, which means that today you are legally able to pass your test. Usually I wouldn't bother to come out and do this in person, but you seem like a particularly capable individual. You've also come from a background of battling since I'd assume you spent time with your father's other pokemon and watched some of his gym battles when you were younger. Finally, Lance has told me that you have an active interest in pokemon research. Prove to me your worth and talents young man!"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Still confused, I ask one of the main questions rattling through my brain. "But why did you bring me all the way out here, and use a fake meeting with such a prestigious and reclusive clan?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Sayo piped up at this. "While we didn't initially have an interest in you, once the champion requested us and we saw your love for eevee, like we explained, we were on board to meet you personally. Once you are done with the champion, we will gauge your relationship with the eevee you have there"./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Agatha continued on. "As for why I asked the Suzuki Clan for a hand, the answer is pretty simple: I already needed to be in Ecruteak, and I needed a good reason for you to come here. End of story. Any other questions, or can we get on with this?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Realising that she was starting to lose her patience, I decided to finish up as quickly as I could with the questions. "Just two more simple questions. Where shall we commence the test, and what will happen with Bill while I am taking the test?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She finally stopped paying attention to me long enough to notice the man behind me. "Hmm? Why if it isn't Bill Regans, I didn't even notice you there. However did you manage to con this young man into helping you stalk the Suzuki Clan's eeveelutions?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"He rubbed his head sheepishly. "Honestly, I just told him about it and he decided to help me, even though he only knew me for 15 minutes prior. He's just that nice of a person!" This garnered an appraising look from the Kimono Girls./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Whatever you say. Now, to answer your questions, I'm happy to conduct the test here in the main room. Think of it as a test of Ho-oh herself if you may. Bill is welcome to watch, as well as the Kimono Girls, as it could be a novel experience for all. If you would all like to settle down and grab a drink, we can get started."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With that, the Kimono girls set up an area where we could get comfortable for the test, and made sure that Bill was looked after. When all was said and done, Agatha continued./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Ethan Williams: You are about to commence the Pokemon Trainer License Test. You will have 10 questions which are all to be answered verbally. You will not be able to use any sorts of aid, including notes or other people. The test will conclude when all 10 questions are completed, and I will be the judge over whether you pass or fail. Any questions?" I shake my head. "Good. Let us commence."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question one: How many pokemon types are there, and list 3 types with their weaknesses, resistances and strengths."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""There are currently 18 different types recorded./p  
p class="Normal"Example one: Water. /p  
p class="Normal"Strengths: Fire, rock, and ground/p  
p class="Normal"Weaknesses: Grass, and electric/p  
p class="Normal"Resists: Water, ice, steel, and fire/p  
p class="Normal"Is resisted by: Water, dragon, and grass/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Example one: Fire./p  
p class="Normal"Strengths: Ice, bug, grass, and steel/p  
p class="Normal"Weaknesses: water, rock, and ground/p  
p class="Normal"Resists: fire, ice, steel, bug, and grass/p  
p class="Normal"Is resisted by: Fire, dragon, rock and water/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Example one: Grass. /p  
p class="Normal"Strengths: Water, rock, and ground/p  
p class="Normal"Weaknesses: Bug, fire, flying, ice, and poison/p  
p class="Normal"Resists: Water, Grass, electric, and ground/p  
p class="Normal"Is resisted by: Flying, poison, bug, steel, fire, grass, and dragon"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Damn, that was a lot of work for only one question, but at least it wasn't too hard/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question two: What is a type triad, and name as many examples as you can"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""A type triad is a situation where you have three pokemon typings. Within the three, one must have a strength to one, and a weakness to the other. This goes for all three typings./p  
p class="Normal"Examples include:/p  
p class="Normal"Fire, water and grass/p  
p class="Normal"Fighting, psychic and dark types/p  
p class="Normal"Ground, water and electric types/p  
p class="Normal"Ground, rock, and flying types/p  
p class="Normal"Fighting, steel and fairy types/p  
p class="Normal"Fighting, rock and flying types/p  
p class="Normal"Electric, water and ground types/p  
p class="Normal"Grass, ice and rock types/p  
p class="Normal"Fire, steel and rock types/p  
p class="Normal"Poison, grass ground types/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""You've missed a few". Damn! I was wracking my brain real hard on that one. "Question 3: Of all the grass pokemon native to Kanto, which is the most dangerous for trainers to encounter in the wild?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I had to think for a minute on this, but I finally made my decision. "I believe tangrowth are the most lethal grass type."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Oho? And why would you not say either victreebel or vileplume?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She was baiting me with what was probably the correct answer on paper, but I was sticking with what I had. "Victreebel was my alternate answer, and it is an extremely dangerous pokemon. It's a pokemon that is entirely carnivorous and feasts on other pokemon, and it has a high chance of knowing the elemental powders which can cause a human death if hit. It is also an alluring pokemon since its use of sweet scent can lure someone to their impending deaths. However, there are two reasons why tangrowth is more dangerous. Firstly, either a victreebel or vileplume can only be evolved from their prior evolutions by an evolutionary stone, which are particularly rare and hard to come by, meaning the pokemon are also rare in the wild. In most situations, they will only be found with a trainer./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Tangrowth, however, is a pokemon that is evolved through the natural strength of the species. While it is still a fairly uncommon pokemon, it is significantly more common than the other two. What makes it so dangerous is their natural friendliness paired with their fairly low intelligence. A tangrowth is a kind pokemon, but doesn't realise their own strength, or that humans need air to breathe. If one is encountered, it is likely to suffocate a human through its own curiosity rather than anything malicious."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Continuing on, question 4: What is the benefit of a jigglypuff's physique over that of a wigglytuff?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"That's an easy question for me, I had already covered those two pokemon on my radio segment. "The benefit of a jigglypuff is it's spherical body. With enough practice, a jigglypuff can inflate its body with air and lift itself off the ground like a balloon. On evolution, the body of a jigglypuff lengthens, and their head become a separate section. This results in a wigglytuff having more ability to breathe and extend the reach of their voice, but the body is too awkward and heavy to float and fly like that of a jigglypuff./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question 5: Name all the ways that a pokemon can evolve"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""There are multiple ways that a pokemon can evolve: Natural strength is the most common way, friendship, evolutionary stones, and sometimes the terrain. There are other ways of evolving a pokemon that are believed by a lot of people, but are not conclusive. Pokemon like kadabra are thought to evolve upon being traded, but that is not the case. They evolve through their base strength just like most other pokemon do. There are also some pokemon who can be aided by an item, but they are not necessary. These include items such as a metal coat on an onix, who can evolve when the density of its rock causes it to morph into the harder steel of a steelix. The only known instance where an item is absolutely necessary is through the porygon line. Since these pokemon are purely a creation of human kind, they need a human upgrade to evolve./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question 6: What significance does an unknown have?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"A mythology question then. "There are several reasons that the unknown species are regarded as significant. They are a species thought to belong to another dimension, and have unique behavioral patterns. It is unknown how they communicate with each other, whether it is based upon telepathy or electromagnetic waves. What is known though is that their communication affects the radio signals within an area./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"There are 28 forms recorded in total and are a representation of the modern alphabet. Therefore, it is thought that the unknowns were the introductions that humans had to modern day writing, or that we had our own form which they replaced through the use of their psychic abilities./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Their true significance, however, lies within the power they have when around each other. Alone, an individual unknown is virtually powerless and considered quite weak, but when they gather in a colony, their power multiples to new heights. This can be particularly dangerous to come across in the wild as they can alter the perception of reality itself. It is said that this power is on par with that of a legendary power, but that is only speculation."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question 7: What is a shuckle's hidden talent, and why shouldn't you trust it?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Shuckles can be found throughout the history of medicine. If it stores a berry within its shell, the berry will mix with shuckles bodily juices to form a juice based upon that berry. This can be beneficial to both humans and pokemon alike./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The issue with such a thing is that the properties of the berry greatly change the juice. Some berries, such as oran and sitrus are favored since it revitalizes the drinker, but others such as a pomeg berry have a volatile reaction for a drinker once it has been mixed with a shuckle's juices. This makes the juice lethal for the drinker as, in the instance of a pomeg berry, when the juice hits your stomach, the acidic properties will combine with the stomach acid and essentially melt the stomach walls./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Because of this, you should never trust the juice of a wild shuckle, or from a trainer that you are unfamiliar with. Regulation within the medical field is also tightly monitored."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question 8: When traveling, what pokemon moves are hazardous for you? How can you identify and avoid these?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""When traveling there are a few field moves that can be dangerous if not removed after a battle, or are used as a trap to capture pokemon or trainers for a wild pokemon to eat. Such examples are stealth rock, spikes and toxic spikes. Stealth rock is the most noticeable since there will usually be an irregular amount of walks on the road. It can be particularly dangerous in rocky terrains since it blends in with everything. Spikes and toxic spikes are far more dangerous to recognise. There are often only vague indentations in the ground to suggest such an attack has been used, but it is difficult to know if they are still active or not. The only difference between the two sets of spikes is a vague purple tinge within the holes to indicate toxic spikes./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"There are a couple ways to clear these up and avoid them. The easiest way to get rid of them is to use a rapid spin attack, but the move isn't particularly common. You can also get rid of them through a powerful water, fire or ground types attack. As for avoiding them, you can fly over an area infected by either spike variation, but you will need to move around an area infected by stealth rock if you can't get rid of it."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Question 9: Why should you run if you ever come across an injured drowzee or hypno?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""The drowzee line is well known for their hypnotic abilities, and their signature moves follow through on that skill. If you see an injured hypno in particular, you should run as their primal instinct will be to use the life force of another to heal itself back to full health. Once spotted, they are known to throw a disable at their target before putting them to sleep and feasting on their dreams./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"They prefer to feast on the dreams of humans since we are an ambitious species, and tend to dream a lot as a result. If they particularly enjoy a human, or even a pokemon, they will essentially enslave that specimen so that they always have a food source. It is common that this source will often die from over exposure to psychic attacks, or if the hypno is careful, from a lack of their own sustenance over the course of their enslavement."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Final question: Name ten unique abilities, what they do, and which pokemon they belong to"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Oh shit, that was a mean question, but let's try and finish off strong./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Examples of unique abilities are:/p  
p class="Normal"1) Kangaskhan- parental bond:Both kangaskhan and their child is capable of attacking in their mega form/p  
p class="Normal"2) Ditto- imposter: An automatic version of the move transform. A ditto upon entry to a battle will copy the pokemon that it is faced with/p  
p class="Normal"3) Shedinja- wonder guard: Only a move that is super effective will hit a shedinja/p  
p class="Normal"4) Meditite/medicham- pure power: doubles the attack power of the meditite line/p  
p class="Normal"5) Sableye- stall: Sableye will always move after the opponent in battle/p  
p class="Normal"6) Kecleon- color change: Kecleon's type depends on the last move it was hit by/p  
p class="Normal"7) Zangoose- toxic boost: Upon being poisoned, the power of a zangoose increases/p  
p class="Normal"8) Skitty/Delcatty- normalize: All moves gain a small boost in power, but they are changed to the normal type/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Sorry, but I can't think of an extra two."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""That concludes the test." I relax just a little, but my tension is still a bit high at knowing I couldn't complete two questions, and I argued the wrong answer on a third. "Mr Williams, you realise that you didn't just complete the normal trainer test correct?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I just blinked at her. "What? What did I just do then?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Her smile could put a sharpedo to shame. "I started off with the correct test in question one, but that was simply to list all 18 types, and not all their strengths, weaknesses and resistances. From there, knowing that you answered question one completely correct, we moved into the induction test for the ace trainers."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Wait, why would I need to take that test?" This didn't make any sense to me, surely she was just pulling my leg./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""You would have passed too easily. I was going to give you your license today regardless, so an old lady may as well get her fun in". She was truly infuriating./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""And how did I go?" That was the true question here./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""You failed, but only just. If you hadn't of missed the final parts of those two questions, you would have succeeded, which is unprecedented in someone who hasn't had at least three years of experience, let alone someone who hasn't even had a single day. I was particularly impressed by the depths of your answers Mr Williams, and I can see that your wish to go into research was more than just hot air. In fact, judging from the way you answered those questions, I would dare say that you should have your own radio show going over the various pokemon within the region!"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"As she sent me a knowing look, I realised that I was busted. "How did you know about that? No one outside of the Goldenrod Radio Tower is meant to know."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""I listen quite a bit, and imagine my surprise when I'm faced with someone who not only has the same voice and way of speaking as Mr Pokemon, but also states the same information about the jigglypuff line. You're an interesting one Mr Williams, and I'm looking forward to your journey as a pokemon trainer. As the champion of the Kanto-Johto bi-state, I hereby acknowledge you as a fully licensed trainer". With this, she pulled out a pokedex from her pocket and gave it to me. "This pokedex will be used for verification when necessary. You will also find that you have already been registered with Professor Elm, and that eevee napping on your shoulder has been legally transferred under your name instead of your father. She will act as your starter pokemon from here on out."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I stood there frozen not really knowing what to say or do; this was all a bit much to process. Eventually I grabbed the pokedex from Agatha and thank her. "I don't know what to say, this is more than I could have ever hoped for! And you're telling me I don't even have to leave Princess behind on my journey? Thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And please don't tell anyone about my identity as Mr Pokemon, it was my one chance to share my knowledge and passion, and I don't want my fame to get in the way of that."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"She nodded her head. "Done. Now, me and my gengar need to go scare any remaining life out of my grandson. I've heard he's been getting cocky lately, so let's cut him down a bit." She turned to the Kimono Girls and Bill who had remained watching through the whole process. "Thank you to the Suzuki Clan for organising and agreeing to this meeting. I'm sure you now have your own agenda to see to. Bill; once you develop the newest upgrade for porygon, let me know so I can test it out". With that, she turned and walked out. The oddity in that though was that she didn't leave through the door, but merely phased through the walls. What a scary woman she was./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I flop onto my back. "I feel like I just ran a marathon and then walked a tight-rope over one of the active volcanoes on cinnabar."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I hear Bill chuckle behind me. "You don't know the half of it. That woman is always four steps ahead of everyone and is damn near impossible to predict. You did extremely well considering that was your first time meeting her, and I must say that your answers were exquisite! Don't worry, I don't believe anyone in this room will share your secret either, so you can relax about that."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"That was truly a relief. It was nice knowing that the ones that knew about my secret identity weren't the press looking to expose me. I sit up and give him a sincere smile. "Thanks Bill, as I said, I truly don't want it to get out."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"From behind where Bill and I were talking, Sayo chimed in. "We will also keep your secret Mr Williams. Now, while I know that you have just been through a tough test, it is time that we tested you ourselves. For this, both Zuki and myself will release our pokemon". On Sayo's cue, both herself and the sister on her right released their pokemon. Once fully materialised, an espeon stood in front of Sayo, and an umbreon in front of Zuki. "We are here to test your virtuousness and the kindness inside your heart and spirit. If you pass our test, we shall bestow upon you a gift. This gift has been passed along our family line for several generations, but none have succeeded in using it."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Well this was certainly more pressure than a photo-shoot with them, but damn does that word keep coming up. "I'm guessing that the two of them are to track my emotions and to ensure I'm telling the truth?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Sayo smiled. "You truly are well informed. Yes, espeon will measure your empathy, and umbreon will measure how truthful you are being. They will be the final judges, not us. Let us commence!/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"How do you perceive the relationship between pokemon and their trainers?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Oh, this is going to be easier than the last test. "The pokemon that we spend time with are our companions. Some think them tools of war, but to me, I hope they'd be by my side until we all get old and have lived happy, fulfilling lives."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""So you wouldn't battle with them?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""I would leave that up to them. I understand that for a pokemon to fully evolve, which is often their dreams, that they would need to battle and gain strength. I would ultimately try to train them in evasion and speed though to avoid them getting needlessly hurt. If that is the route that they wish to take, I will help them every step of the way."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Would you lash out at a pokemon or person if you are feeling stressed or things aren't going your way?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"What a relevant question. "I can't say that I would never since the chain of events of such a situation led me here today. I don't believe that violence is ever right in a situation, and I'm horrified in myself that I ever let myself slip into those actions. I hope to never have a repeat of that in my life ever again."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""If a loved one were about to be hit by a slicing attack, and your body was the only way to protect them, would you jump in front of the attack?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Without a doubt! I wouldn't want to wish pain on anyone, let alone someone I care deeply for. If it takes my body and health to make sure that they are safe, then that's what I'll do."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Final question. Strong pokemon or weak pokemon; which is more important?"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" I had to think a bit on that. "Neither. strength is a vague term, and I don't believe that physical power is an accurate representation for that. Even the 'weakest' pokemon have skills that are unique and usable, plus it is the pokemon that are weak in power that turn into those with great power. It is completely irrelevant in the end."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With that, Sayo turned to the two judges. "Espeon, umbreon: how did he do?" As one, they both nod their heads. "Excellent! Sisters, please rejoice, for we have finally found one who is capable of handling the heirloom! Miki, could you please retrieve it?" With that, the youngest sister walked through one of the side doors./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""I'm sorry, but what is this heirloom, and why did it require a test?" Getting rather uncomfortable with all the twists and turns today, I hoped that it was nearing the end./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""It is a rare pokemon egg. The pokemon inside is a togepi and will only grow under the love and affection of a pure hearted trainer. Ethan; you have passed our test, and therefore, we believe you are a suitable candidate for such a task". Following those words, the youngest sister came back into the room hold an egg with red and blue circles. She offered it to me, and I numbly accept it./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"This was considered to be one of the rarest pokemon in the bi-state, and here it was just being handed to me on a silver platter. It didn't make sense, but nothing over the last two days had. I felt like everything was just getting overwhelming, but panicking over it would have to wait. Noticing my turmoil as she always does, Princess woke up and butted her head against me to knock me out of my own head./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""Sorry Princess, meet your new brother or sister. They're still an egg right now, but you'll get to spoil them soon". Princess perked up at that. I'm sure she was going to shower the togepi with affection just like I did to her. Mankey see, mankey do and all that jazz./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal""I'm sure that togepi is in good hands with you. Now that the business of today is over, we can have some lunch. Following that, I believe that we'd all be keen on sharing some of our secrets to raising an eevee. Mr Regans, you came here hoping to see our pokemon in the flesh, and that is just what you'll get."/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Bill was back with stars in his eyes. He had been calm for too long anyway. "Really! That would be such an honor! I'm looking forward to it already!"/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"With that said and done, the guards brought in lunch, and Princess and I spent the next couple hours learning a couple tricks of the trade from the veteran eevees including some of the basic attacks which she hadn't used in many years, including quick attack and helping hand. It was going to be a long journey for her, but I know that eventually she'll be strong enough to evolve into the espeon that I know she already is./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"A/N- I decided that because there was the test from Agatha that there wouldn't be a Mr Pokemon segment in this chapter. It was only going to be pineco anyway./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Now, all the main characters have been introduced. The legendaries will pop up every now and then, but don't worry, Ethan won't be a beginner with legendaries under his belt/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"The point of Ethan being Mr Pokemon was finally realised as in cannon, the egg passes from Kimono to Mr Pokemon to Ethan to Elm and finally back to Ethan/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Now that Ethan is finally a trainer, expect the story to take a more active approach in regards to pokemon. It also means that this arc of the story is over and I can now focus on the trainer arc, and Lance's Team Rocket arc./p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"I'm also pretty sure that the long chapters are finally done now/p  
p class="Normal" /p  
p class="Normal"Finally, please favorite and send constructive reviews. If messaging about errors or failures in formatting, please tell me which chapter and which segment/p  
p class="Normal" /p 


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